what is market strategy in a business plan

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Blog Marketing What is a Marketing Plan & How to Create One [with Examples]

What is a Marketing Plan & How to Create One [with Examples]

Written by: Sara McGuire Oct 26, 2023

A marketing plan is a blueprint that outlines your strategies to attract and convert your ideal customers as a part of your customer acquisition strategy. It’s a comprehensive document that details your:

• Target audience:  Who you’re trying to reach
• Marketing goals:  What you want to achieve
• Strategies and tactics:  How you’ll reach your goals
• Budget:  Resources you’ll allocate
• Metrics:  How you’ll measure success

In this article, I’ll explain everything you need to know about creating a marketing plan . If you need a little extra help, there are professionally designed marketing plan templates that’ll make the process much easier. So, let’s ditch the confusion and get started!

Click to jump ahead:

What is a marketing plan?

How to write a marketing plan , 9 marketing plan examples to inspire your growth strategy.

• Marketing plan v.s. business plan
• Types of marketing plans

Marketing plan FAQs

A marketing plan is a report that outlines your marketing strategy for your products or services, which could be applicable for the coming year, quarter or month.  

Watch this quick, 13-minute video for more details on what a marketing plan is and how to make one yourself:

Typically, a marketing plan includes:

• An overview of your business’s marketing and advertising goals
• A description of your business’s current marketing position
• A timeline of when tasks within your strategy will be completed
• Key performance indicators (KPIs) you will be tracking
• A description of your business’s target market and customer needs
• A description of how you will measure marketing plan performance

For example, this marketing plan template provides a high-level overview of the business and competitors before diving deep into specific goals, KPIs and tactics:

Learning how to write a marketing plan forces you to think through the important steps that lead to an effective marketing strategy . And a well-defined plan will help you stay focused on your high-level marketing goals.

With Venngage’s extensive catalog of marketing plan templates, creating your marketing plan isn’t going to be hard or tedious. In fact, Venngage has plenty of helpful communications and design resources for marketers. If you’re ready to get started, sign up for  Venngage for Marketers   now. It’s free to register and start designing.

Whether you’re a team trying to set smarter marketing goals, a consultant trying to set your client in the right direction, or a one-person team hustling it out, Venngage for Marketers helps you get things done.

As mentioned above, the scope of your marketing plan varies depending on its purpose or the type of organization it’s for.

For example, you could look for performance marketing agency to create a marketing plan that provides an overview of a company’s entire marketing strategy:

A typical outline of a marketing plan includes:

• Executive summary
• Goals and objectives
• User personas
• Competitor analysis/SWOT analysis
• Baseline metrics
• Marketing strategy
• Tracking guidelines

Below you will see in details how to write each section as well as some examples of how you can design each section in a marketing plan.

Let’s look at how to create a successful marketing plan (click to jump ahead):

• Write a simple executive summary
• Set metric-driven marketing goals
• Outline your user personas
• Research all of your competitors
• Set accurate key baselines & metrics
• Create an actionable marketing strategy
• Set tracking or reporting guidelines

1. Write a simple executive summary

Starting your marketing plan off on the right foot is important. You want to pull people into your amazing plan for marketing domination. Not bore them to tears.

One of the best ways to get people excited to read your marketing plan is with a well-written executive summary. An executive summary introduces readers to your company goals, marketing triumphs, future plans, and other important contextual facts.

Basically, you can use the Executive Summary as a primer for the rest of your marketing plan.

Include things like:

• Simple marketing goals
• High-level metrics
• Important company milestones
• Facts about your brand
• Employee anecdotes
• Future goals & plans

Try to keep your executive summary rather brief and to the point. You aren’t writing a novel, so try to keep it under three to four paragraphs.

Take a look at the executive summary in the marketing plan example below:

The executive summary is only two paragraphs long — short but effective.

The executive summary tells readers about the company’s growth, and how they are about to overtake one of their competitors. But there’s no mention of specific metrics or figures. That will be highlighted in the next section of the marketing plan.

An effective executive summary should have enough information to pique the reader’s interest, but not bog them down with specifics yet. That’s what the rest of your marketing plan is for!

The executive summary also sets the tone for your marketing plan. Think about what tone will fit your brand ? Friendly and humorous? Professional and reliable? Inspiring and visionary?

2. Set metric-driven marketing goals

After you perfect your executive summary, it’s time to outline your marketing goals.

(If you’ve never set data-driven goals like this before, it would be worth reading this growth strategy guide ).

This is one of the most important parts of the entire marketing plan, so be sure to take your time and be as clear as possible. Moreover, optimizing your marketing funnel is key. Employing effective funnel software can simplify operations and provide valuable customer insights. It facilitates lead tracking, conversion rate analysis, and efficient marketing optimization .

As a rule of thumb, be as specific as possible. The folks over at  VoyMedia  advise that you should set goals that impact website traffic, conversions, and customer success — and to use real numbers. Complement your goals with website optimization tools (e.g., A/B testing speed with Nostra – check Nostra AI review to learn more) to further improve conversions.

Avoid outlining vague goals like:

• Get more Twitter followers
• Write more articles
• Create more YouTube videos (like educational or Explainer videos )
• Increase retention rate
• Decrease bounce rate

Instead, identify  key performance metrics  (KPI) you want to impact and the percentage you want to increase them by.

Take a look at the goals page in the marketing plan example below:

They not only identify a specific metric in each of their goals, but they also set a timeline for when they will be increased.

The same vague goals listed earlier become much clearer when specific numbers and timelines are applied to them:

• Get 100 new Twitter followers per month
• Write 5 more articles per week
• Create 10 YouTube videos each year
• Increase retention rate by 15% by 2020
• Decrease bounce rate by 5% by Q1
• Create an online course  and get 1,000 new leads
• Focus more on local SEO strategies
• Conduct a monthly social media report to track progress

You can dive even deeper into your marketing goals if you want (generally, the more specific, the better). Here’s a marketing plan example that shows how to outline your growth goals:

3. Outline your user personas

Now, this may not seem like the most important part of your marketing plan, but I think it holds a ton of value.

Outlining your user personas is an important part of a marketing plan that should not be overlooked.

You should be asking not just how you can get the most visitors to your business, but how you can get the right visitors.

Who are your ideal customers? What are their goals? What are their biggest problems? How does your business solve customer problems?

Answering these questions will take lots of research, but it’s essential information to get.

Some ways to conduct user research are:

• Interviewing your users (either in person or on the phone)
• Conducting focus groups
• Researching other businesses in the same industry
• Surveying your audience

Then, you will need to compile your user data into a user persona  guide.

Take a look at how detailed this user persona template is below:

Taking the time to identify specific demographic traits, habits and goals will make it easier for you to cater your marketing plan to them.

Here’s how you can create a user persona guide:

The first thing you should add is a profile picture or icon for each user persona. It can help to put a face to your personas, so they seem more real.

Next, list demographic information like:

• Identifiers
• Activities/Hobbies

The user persona example above uses sliding scales to identify personality traits like introversion vs. extroversion and thinking vs. feeling. Identifying what type of personality your target users tend to have an influence on the messaging you use in your marketing content.

Meanwhile, this user persona guide identifies specific challenges the user faces each day:

But if you don’t want to go into such precise detail, you can stick to basic information, like in this marketing plan example:

Most businesses will have a few different types of target users. That’s why it’s pertinent to identify and create several different user personas . That way, you can better segment your marketing campaigns and set separate goals, if necessary.

Here’s a marketing plan example with a segmented user persona guide:

The important thing is for your team or client to have a clear picture of who their target user is and how they can appeal to their specific problems.

Start creating robust user personas using Venngage’s user persona guide .

4. Conduct an extensive competitor analysis

Next, on the marketing plan checklist, we have the competitor research section. This section will help you identify who your competitors are, what they’re doing, and how you could carve yourself a place alongside them in your niche — and ideally, surpass them. It’s something you can learn to do with rank tracking software .

Competitor research is also incredibly important if you are starting a blog .

Typically, your competitor research should include:

• Who their marketing team is
• Who their leadership team is
• What their marketing strategy and strategic marketing plan are (this will probably revolve some reverse-engineering)
• What their sales strategy is (same deal)
• Social Media strategy (are they using discounting strategies such as coupon marketing to get conversions)
• Their market cap/financials
• Their yearly growth (you will probably need to use a marketing tool like Ahrefs to do this)
• The number of customers they have & their user personas

Also, take as deep a dive as you can into the strategies they use across their:

• Blog/Content marketing
• Social media marketing
• SEO Marketing
• Video marketing
• And any other marketing tactics they use

Research their strengths and weaknesses in all parts of their company, and you will find some great opportunities. Bookmark has a great guide to different marketing strategies for small businesses if you need some more information there.

You can use this simple SWOT analysis worksheet to quickly work through all parts of their strategy as well:

Click the template above to create a SWOT chart . Customize the template to your liking — no design know-how needed.

Since you have already done all the research beforehand, adding this information to your marketing plan shouldn’t be that hard.

In this marketing plan example, some high-level research is outlined for 3 competing brands:

But you could take a deeper dive into different facets of your competitors’ strategies. This marketing plan example analyses a competitor’s inbound marketing strategy :

It can also be helpful to divide your competitors into Primary and Secondary groups. For example, Apple’s primary competitor may be Dell for computers, but its secondary competitor could be a company that makes tablets.

Your most dangerous competitors may not even be in the same industry as you. Like the CEO of Netflix said, “Sleep is our competition.”

5. Set accurate key baselines & metrics

It’s pretty hard to plan for the future if you don’t know where your business stands right now.

Before we do anything at Venngage, we find the baselines so we can compare future results to something. We do it so much it’s almost like second nature now!

Setting baselines will allow you to more accurately track your progress. You will also be able to better analyze what worked and what didn’t work, so you can build a stronger strategy. It will definitely help them clearly understand your goals and strategy as well.

Here’s a marketing plan example where the baselines are visualized:

Another way to include baselines in your plan is with a simple chart, like in the marketing plan example below:

Because data can be intimidating to a lot of people, visualizing your data using charts and infographics will help demystify the information.

6. Create an actionable marketing strategy

After pulling all the contextual information and relevant metrics into your marketing plan, it’s time to break down your marketing strategy.

Once again, it’s easier to communicate your information to your team or clients using visuals .

Mind maps are an effective way to show how a strategy with many moving parts ties together. For example, this mind map shows how the four main components of a marketing strategy interact together:

You can also use a flow chart to map out your strategy by objectives:

However you choose to visualize your strategy, your team should know exactly what they need to do. This is not the time to keep your cards close to your chest.

Your strategy section may need to take up a few pages to explain, like in the marketing plan example below:

With all of this information, even someone from the development team will understand what the marketing team is working on.

This minimalistic marketing plan example uses color blocks to make the different parts of the strategy easy to scan:

Breaking your strategy down into tasks will make it easier to tackle.

Another important way to visualize your marketing strategy is to create a project roadmap. A project roadmap visualizes the timeline of your product with individual tasks. Our roadmap maker can help you with this.

For example, this project roadmap shows how tasks on both the marketing and web design side run parallel to each other:

A simple timeline can also be used in your marketing plan:

Or a mind map, if you want to include a ton of information in a more organized way:

Even a simple “Next, Now, Later” chart can help visualize your strategy:

7. Set tracking or reporting guidelines

Close your marketing plan with a brief explanation of how you plan to track or measure your results. This will save you a lot of frustration down the line by standardizing how you track results across your team.

Like the other sections of your marketing plan, you can choose how in-depth you want to go. But there need to be some clear guidelines on how to measure the progress and results of your marketing plan.

At the bare minimum, your results tracking guidelines should specify:

• What you plan to track
• How you plan to track results
• How often you plan to measure

But you can more add tracking guidelines to your marketing plan if you see the need to. You may also want to include a template that your team or client can follow,  for  client reporting ,  ensure that the right metrics are being tracked.

The marketing plan example below dedicates a whole page to tracking criteria:

Use a task tracker to track tasks and marketing results, and a checklist maker to note down tasks, important life events, or tracking your daily life.

Similarly, the marketing plan example below talks about tracking content marketing instead:

Marketing plan vs. marketing strategy

Although often used interchangeably, the terms “marketing plan” and “marketing strategy” do have some differences.

Simply speaking, a marketing strategy presents what the business will do in order to reach a certain goal. A marketing plan outlines the specific daily, weekly, monthly or yearly activities that the marketing strategy calls for. As a business, you can create a marketing proposal for the marketing strategies defined in your company’s marketing plan. There are various marketing proposal examples that you can look at to help with this.

A company’s extended marketing strategy can be like this:

Notice how it’s more general and doesn’t include the actual activities required to complete each strategy or the timeframe those marketing activities will take place. That kind of information is included in a marketing plan, like this marketing plan template which talks about the content strategy in detail:

1. Nonprofit marketing plan

Here’s a free nonprofit marketing plan example that is ideal for organizations with a comprehensive vision to share. It’s a simple plan that is incredibly effective. Not only does the plan outline the core values of the company, it also shares the ideal buyer persona.

Note how the branding is consistent throughout this example so there is no doubt which company is presenting this plan. The content plan is an added incentive for anyone viewing the document to go ahead and give the team the green light.

2. Social media marketing plan

Two-page marketing plan samples aren’t very common, but this free template proves how effective they are. There’s a dedicated section for business goals as well as for project planning.

The milestones for the marketing campaign are clearly laid out, which is a great way to show how organized this business strategy is.

3. Small business marketing plan

This marketing plan template is perfect for small businesses who set out to develop an overarching marketing strategy for the whole year:

Notice how this aligns pretty well with the marketing plan outline we discussed in previous sections.

In terms of specific tactics for the company’s marketing strategy, the template only discusses SEO strategy, but you can certainly expand on that section to discuss any other strategies — such as link building , that you would like to build out a complete marketing plan for.

4. Orange simple marketing proposal template

Marketing plans, like the sample below, are a great way to highlight what your business strategy and the proposal you wan to put forward to win potential customers.

5. One-page marketing plan

This one-page marketing plan example is great for showcasing marketing efforts in a persuasive presentation or to print out for an in-person meeting.

Note how the fact sheet breaks down the marketing budget as well as the key metrics for the organization. You can win over clients and partners with a plan like this.

6. Light company business fact sheet template

This one-page sample marketing plan clearly outlines the marketing objectives for the organization. It’s a simple but effective way to share a large amount of information in a short amount of time.

What really works with this example is that includes a mission statement, key contact information alongside all the key metrics.

7. Marketing media press kit template

This press kit marketing plan template is bright and unmistakable as belonging to the Cloud Nine marketing agency . The way the brand colors are used also helps diversify the layouts for each page, making the plan easier to read.

We like the way the marketing department has outlined the important facts about the organization. The bold and large numbers draw the eye and look impressive.

8. Professional marketing proposal template

Start your marketing campaign on a promising note with this marketing plan template. It’s short, sharp and to the point. The table of contents sets out the agenda, and there’s a page for the company overview and mission statement.

9. Social media marketing proposal template

A complete marketing plan example, like the one below, not only breaks down the business goals to be achieved but a whole lot more. Note how the terms and conditions and payment schedule are included, which makes this one of the most comprehensive marketing plans on our list.

Marketing plan vs. business plan

While both marketing plans and business plans are crucial documents for businesses, they serve distinct purposes and have different scopes. Here’s a breakdown of the key differences:

Business plan is a comprehensive document that outlines all aspects of your business, including:

• Mission and vision
• Products or services
• Target market
• Competition
• Management team
• Financial projections
• Marketing strategy (including a marketing plan)
• Operations plan

Marketing plan on the other hand, dives deep into the specific strategies and tactics related to your marketing efforts. It expands on the marketing section of a business plan by detailing:

• Specific marketing goals (e.g., brand awareness, lead generation, sales)
• Target audience analysis (detailed understanding of their needs and behaviors)
• Product:  Features, benefits, positioning
• Price:  Pricing strategy, discounts
• Place:  Distribution channels (online, offline)
• Promotion:  Advertising, social media, content marketing, public relations
• Budget allocation for different marketing activities
• Metrics and measurement to track progress and success

In short, business plans paint the entire business picture, while marketing plans zoom in on the specific strategies used to reach your target audience and achieve marketing goals.

Types of marketing plans that can transform your business strategy

Let’s take a look at several types of marketing plans you can create, along with specific examples for each.

1. General marketing strategic plan / Annual marketing plan

This is a good example of a marketing plan that covers the overarching annual marketing strategy for a company:

Another good example would be this Starbucks marketing plan:

This one-page marketing plan example from coffee chain Starbucks has everything at a glance. The bold headers and subheadings make it easier to segment the sections so readers can focus on the area most relevant to them.

What we like about this example is how much it covers. From the ideal buyer persona to actional activities, as well as positioning and metrics, this marketing plan has it all.

Another marketing plan example that caught our eye is this one from Cengage. Although a bit text-heavy and traditional, it explains the various sections well. The clean layout makes this plan easy to read and absorb.

The last marketing plan example we would like to feature in this section is this one from Lush cosmetics.

It is a long one but it’s also very detailed. The plan outlines numerous areas, including the company mission, SWOT analysis , brand positioning, packaging, geographical criteria, and much more.

2. Content marketing plan

A content marketing plan highlights different strategies , campaigns or tactics you can use for your content to help your business reach its goals.

This one-page marketing plan example from Contently outlines a content strategy and workflow using simple colors and blocks. The bullet points detail more information but this plan can easily be understood at a glance, which makes it so effective.

For a more detailed content marketing plan example, take a look at this template which features an editorial calendar you can share with the whole team:

3. SEO marketing plan

Your SEO marketing plan highlights what you plan to do for your SEO marketing strategy . This could include tactics for website on-page optimization , off-page optimization using AI SEO , and link building using an SEO PowerSuite backlink API for quick backlink profile checks. Additionally, incorporating a rank tracker can help monitor keyword performance and track the impact of your optimization efforts.

This SEO marketing plan example discusses in detail the target audience of the business and the SEO plan laid out in different stages:

4. Social media marketing plan

Your social media marketing plan presents what you’ll do to reach your marketing goal through social media. This could include tactics specific to each social media channel that you own, recommendations on developing a new channel, specific campaigns you want to run, and so on, like how B2B channels use Linkedin to generate leads with automation tools and expand their customer base; or like making use of Twitter walls that could display live Twitter feeds from Twitter in real-time on digital screens.

For B2C brands, you can target Facebook and Instagram. Gain Instagram likes to build trust for your brand’s profile and post engaging content on both platforms. Leverage AI social media tools to automate and scale your content plan..

Edit this social media marketing plan example easily with Venngage’s drag-and-drop editor:

5. Demand generation marketing plan

This could cover your paid marketing strategy (which can include search ads, paid social media ads, traditional advertisements, etc.), email marketing strategy and more. Here’s an example:

What should marketing plans include?

Marketing plans should include:

• A detailed analysis of the target market and customer segments.
• Clear and achievable marketing objectives and goals.
• Strategies and tactics for product promotion and distribution.
• Budget allocation for various marketing activities.
• Timelines and milestones for the implementation of marketing strategies.
• Evaluation metrics and methods for tracking the success of the marketing plan.

What is an executive summary in a marketing plan and what is its main goal?

An executive summary in a marketing plan is a brief overview of the entire document, summarizing the key points, goals, and strategies. Its main goal is to provide readers with a quick understanding of the plan’s purpose and to entice them to read further.

What are the results when a marketing plan is effective?

When a marketing plan is effective, businesses can experience increased brand visibility, higher customer engagement , improved sales and revenue, and strengthened customer loyalty.

What is the first section of a marketing plan?

The first section of a marketing plan is typically the “Executive Summary,” which provides a concise overview of the entire plan, including the business’s goals and the strategies to achieve them.

Now that you have the basics for designing your own marketing plan, it’s time to get started:

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What is a Marketing Plan & How to Write One [+ Examples]

Published: August 07, 2024

One of my favorite ways to break through writer’s block, whether the assignment is a marketing plan or a short story, is simply reading more examples. (I also recommend taking a long walk; you’d be surprised.)

I can’t take you on a walk, but I can give you some examples, some inspiration, and some guidelines to get your creativity humming.

If you don’t know where to start, we’ve curated lists of marketing plans and marketing strategies to help you write a concrete plan that will produce results.

Let’s start by understanding the differences between the two.

Featured Resource:   Free Marketing Plan Template

Looking to develop a marketing plan for your business?   Click here to download HubSpot's free Marketing Plan Template to get started .

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What is a marketing plan, marketing plan vs. business plan, how to write a marketing plan, types of marketing plans, marketing plan examples, marketing plan faqs, sample marketing plan.

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A marketing plan is a strategic road map that businesses use to organize, execute, and track their marketing strategy over a given period. Marketing plans can include different marketing strategies for various marketing teams across the company, all working toward the same business goals.

The purpose of a marketing plan is to write down strategies in an organized manner. This will help keep you on track and measure the success of your campaigns.

Your marketing plan lays out each campaign‘s mission, buyer personas, budget, tactics, and deliverables. With all this information in one place, you’ll have an easier time staying on track with a campaign, and you can figure out what works and what doesn’t.

To learn more about creating your marketing plan, keep reading or jump to the relevant section:

A marketing plan is a strategic document that outlines marketing objectives, strategies, and tactics.

A business plan is also a strategic document. But this plan covers all aspects of a company's operations, including finance, operations, and more. It can also help your business decide how to distribute resources and make decisions as your business grows.

A marketing plan is a subset of a business plan; it shows how marketing strategies and objectives can support overall business goals. And if you need an assist executing a marketing plan, might I recommend HubSpot’s marketing hub ?

Marketing Strategy vs. Marketing Plan

A marketing strategy is the part of your marketing plan that describes how a business will accomplish a particular goal or mission.

This includes which campaigns, content, channels, and marketing software you’ll use to execute that mission and track its success.

A marketing plan contains one or more marketing strategies. It's the framework from which all your marketing strategies are created, and it helps you connect each strategy to a larger marketing operation and business goal.

For example, suppose your company is launching a new software product, and it wants customers to sign up. The marketing department needs to develop a marketing plan that'll help introduce this product to the industry and drive the desired sign-ups.

The department decides to launch a topical blog, debut a YouTube series to establish expertise, and create new X and Instagram accounts to join the conversation around this subject. All this serves to attract an audience and convert this audience into software users.

To summarize, a business' marketing plan is dedicated to introducing a new software product to the marketplace and driving sign-ups for that product. The business will execute that plan with three marketing strategies : a new industry blog, a YouTube video series, and an X account.

Of course, the business might consider these three things as one giant marketing strategy, each with its own specific content strategies. How granular you want your marketing plan to get is up to you. Nonetheless, every marketing plan goes through a particular set of steps in its creation.

• State your business' mission.
• Determine the KPIs for this mission.
• Identify your buyer personas.
• Describe your content initiatives and strategies.
• Clearly define your plan's omissions.
• Define your marketing budget.
• Identify your competition.
• Outline your plan's contributors and their responsibilities.

1. State your business' mission.

Your first step in writing a marketing plan is to state your mission. Although this mission is specific to your marketing department, it should serve as your business' main mission statement.

In my experience, you want to be specific, but not too specific. You have plenty of space left in this marketing plan to elaborate on how you'll acquire new customers and accomplish this mission.

For those of you running startups or small businesses, HubSpot’s starter bundle is a great all-in-one solution — it can help you find and win customers, execute content marketing plans, and more.

If your business' mission is “to make booking travel a delightful experience,” your marketing mission might be “to attract an audience of travelers, educate them on the tourism industry, and convert them into users of our bookings platform.”

Need help building your mission statement? Download this guide for examples and templates and write the ideal mission statement.

2. Determine the KPIs for this mission.

Every good marketing plan describes how the department will track its mission‘s progress. To do so, you need to decide on your key performance indicators (KPIs) .

KPIs are individual metrics that measure the various elements of a marketing campaign. These units help you establish short-term goals within your mission and communicate your progress to business leaders.

Let's take our example of a marketing mission from the above step. If part of our mission is “to attract an audience of travelers,” we might track website visits using organic page views. In this case, “organic page views” is one KPI, and we can see our number of page views grow over time.

Also, make sure to check whether your current reporting software facilitates the KPIs you need. Some reporting tools can only measure a set of pre-defined metrics, which can cause massive headaches in particular marketing campaigns.

However, other tools, like HubSpot’s analytics software , can offer full flexibility over the KPIs you wish to track.

You can generate custom reports that reveal average website engagement rates, page visits, email, social media traffic, and more.

These KPIs will come into the conversation again in step 4.

3. Identify your buyer personas.

A buyer persona is a description of who you want to attract. This can include age, sex, location, family size, and job title.

Each buyer persona should directly reflect your business' current and potential customers. All business leaders must agree on your buyer personas.

4. Describe your content initiatives and strategies.

Here‘s where you’ll include the main points of your marketing and content strategy.

Because there‘s a laundry list of content types and channels available today, you must choose wisely and explain how you’ll use your content and channels in this section of your marketing plan.

When I write this section, I like to stipulate:

• What types of content I'll create. These might include blog posts, YouTube videos, infographics, and ebooks.
• How much I'll create. I typically describe content volume in daily, weekly, monthly, or even quarterly intervals. It all depends on my workflow and the short-term goals for my content.
• The goals (and KPIs) I'll use to track each type. KPIs can include organic traffic, social media traffic, email traffic, and referral traffic. Your goals should also include which pages you want to drive that traffic to, such as product pages, blog pages, or landing pages.
• The channels on which I'll distribute my content. Popular channels include Facebook, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram.
• Any paid advertising that will take place on these channels.

5. Clearly define your plan's omissions.

A marketing plan explains the marketing team's focus. It also explains what the marketing team will not focus on.

If there are other aspects of your business that you aren‘t serving in this particular plan, include them in this section. These omissions help to justify your mission, buyer personas, KPIs, and content.

You can’t please everyone in a single marketing campaign, and if your team isn’t on the hook for something, you need to make it known.

In my experience, this section is particularly important for stakeholders to help them understand why certain decisions were made.

6. Define your marketing budget.

Whether it's freelance fees, sponsorships, or a new full-time marketing hire, use these costs to develop a marketing budget and outline each expense in this section of your marketing plan.

You can establish your marketing budget with these 8 free marketing budget templates .

7. Identify your competition.

Part of marketing is knowing your competition. Research the key players in your industry and consider profiling each one.

Keep in mind that not every competitor will pose the same challenges to your business. For example, while one competitor might rank highly on search engines for keywords that you’re also chasing, another competitor might have a heavy footprint on a social network where you plan to launch an account.

Easily track and analyze your competitors with this collection of 10 free competitive analysis templates .

8. Outline your plan's contributors and their responsibilities.

With your marketing plan fully fleshed out, it‘s time to explain who’s doing what.

I don’t like to delve too deeply into my employees’ day-to-day projects, but I know which teams and team leaders are in charge of specific content types, channels, KPIs, and more.

Now that you know why you need to build an effective marketing plan, it’s time to get to work.

Starting a plan from scratch can be overwhelming if you haven't done it before.

That’s why there are many helpful resources that can support your first steps. We’ll share some of the best guides and templates to help you build effective results-driven plans for your marketing strategies.

Ready to make your own marketing plan? Get started with this free template.

The kind of marketing plan you create will depend on your company, your industry, and your business goals. We compiled different samples to suit your needs:

1. Quarterly or Annual Marketing Plans

This marketing plan by Visit Oxnard, a convention and visitors bureau, is packed with information: target markets, key performance indicators, selling points, personas, marketing tactics by channel, and much more.

It also articulates the organization’s strategic plans for the upcoming fiscal year, especially as it grapples with the aftereffects of the pandemic.

Lastly, it has impeccable visual appeal, with color-coded sections and strong branding elements.

• It states clear and actionable goals for the coming year.
• It includes data and other research that shows how the team made its decisions.
• It outlines how the team will measure the plan’s success.

4. Safe Haven Family Shelter

This marketing plan by a nonprofit organization is an excellent example to follow if your plan will be presented to internal stakeholders at all levels of your organization.

It includes SMART marketing goals , deadlines, action steps, long-term objectives, target audiences, core marketing messages , and metrics.

The plan is detailed yet scannable. By the end of it, one can walk away with a strong understanding of the organization’s strategic direction for its upcoming marketing efforts.

• It confirms ongoing marketing strategies and objectives while introducing new initiatives.
• It uses colors, fonts, and formatting to emphasize key parts.
• It closes with long-term goals, key themes, and other overarching topics to set the stage for the future.

5. Wright County Economic Development

• “Going viral” isn’t a goal; it’s an outcome.
• Be surprising. Subvert expectations.
• Be weird and niche if you want to be weird and niche, but establishing a shared cultural understanding might result in a bigger audience.

Pridemore Properties’ Instagram smash hit is unexpected, to say the least. You think you’re getting a home tour that takes your figurative breath away; you get a home tour that takes the agent’s literal breath away.

Verizon’s toe-tapping, hip-shaking Totalmente (aka Total by Verizon, a contractless phone plan) ad debuted during Univision’s Spanish-language broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII. The ad reinvents the 1998 Elvis Crespo song “Suavemente,” an earworm if I’ve ever heard one, replacing the lyrics with Total by Verizon features.

Verizon Value’s CMO and VP of Marketing, Cheryl Gresham, has admitted that she didn’t know much about marketing to a majority-Latinx audience.

In an interview with Campaign Live , she said she didn’t think the idea would have gotten off the ground “if it had just been me and a lot of other people that had a background like myself in that room.”

CampaignLive wrote, “Gresham says the team opted for a creative concept that spoke to all the Latinos in the room — despite Gresham herself not understanding the connection.”

Gresham’s marketing strategy hinged on knowing her audience and, just as importantly, trusting her fellow marketers who knew how to reach that audience.

Strategic Takeaways for Demographic Marketing

• Know what you don’t know.
• Foster diversity in marketing leadership and staff.
• Know your audience.

The catchy tune and the great storytelling certainly don’t hurt.

But more than that, Ogilvy and Verizon dug deep into Latinx culture — more than 25 years deep — to craft an ad that doesn’t feel like it’s just responding to the latest trend. They also tapped Venezuelan American comedian, musician, and producer Fred Armisen to direct the spot.

6. Chappell Roan

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How to Create a Winning Marketing Strategy in 5 Steps (with Examples)

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Having a marketing strategy is more crucial than ever. We’re swamped with new technologies, growth hacks, and “must-try” marketing tactics . A solid marketing strategy will help you to focus on things that really matter and execute them properly.

Let me repeat that in other words.

A marketing strategy helps you choose the right marketing tactics, like promoting your blog posts or creating an affiliate program. I need to make the distinction between strategy and tactics clear because you’ll often see people using these interchangeably.

In this article, you’ll learn how to develop a winning marketing strategy in five steps:

• Have your market research data ready
• Decide which segments you’ll target
• Appeal to your target market with proper positioning
• Choose a few brand codes to become distinctive
• Set strategic objectives for the year ahead

Let’s dive into it.

1. Have your market research data ready

It’s crucial to build your marketing strategy on data, not assumptions. You’re probably not developing and launching a product into the marketplace without market research —or at least you shouldn’t be.

Market research is an essential part of marketing and a topic on its own. I won’t go too deep into this, but I’ll provide options to get the needed data. Remember that even cheap, quick, and imperfect market research is better than no research at all.

Here’s what you should have before developing a marketing strategy:

• Qualitative market data
• Quantitative market data
• Market segmentation
• Competitive analysis

Feel free to go with what you deem enough at the moment. You can always come back to the research if you lack data for setting up the strategy. I’m aware that getting all the data right away is off-the-table for many new businesses.

a) Qualitative market data

Qualitative data tells you the “why” behind all your market research numbers. It’s essential for understanding your consumers as it digs into their views, experiences, motivations, and feelings.

Traditionally, the best way to get such data would be via focus groups and interviews.

Focus groups typically consist of five to ten people that represent your potential customers. The group should be moderated by a professional who knows which questions to ask and how to get reliable and in-depth insights. It’s a great option to get the data but not the cheapest in terms of money and time.

On the other hand, I would suggest you go out and interview your (potential) customers in any situation. Even better, observe them in places your product is purchased, consumed, or discussed. Take notes on this unfiltered and unbiased information. If you have a SaaS product, you can also record and analyze sessions  of your users.

Here’s an example excerpt from an interview-style survey we did with our customers a while back:

If you want to get some free and solid qualitative data quickly, look into how people talk about yours and competing products on social media, forums, Slack channels, and other online communities . It’s less reliable than conducting in-person interviews, but it’s still a fantastic qualitative data source.

Here’s an example of a quick search on Reddit for SEO tool discussions where our product almost always gets discussed:

b) Quantitative market data

Quantitative market data provides measurable information about your market. It answers “what, who, how much, and how many” questions to complement the “why” questions from qualitative data. The best and most used method for getting such data is conducting surveys.

You’ve likely filled customer surveys in various forms in the past. With the ability to conduct easy and scalable online surveys  these days, there’s really no excuse not to do them.

If you already have a solid customer base, email list, or social media following, distributing surveys is easy.

There are three things you need to pay attention to when creating a survey:

• Make sure that you either distribute it to people who qualify as your potential customers or add survey questions to qualify them as such.

• Ask the right questions. I’ll expand on this.

You should always know why you’re asking a specific question in the survey. Generally speaking, you’ll want to know this about the market:

• Demographic data like age or income.
• Attitudinal data, like if they agree/disagree with certain statements relevant to your niche. An example of this would be the following question using the Likert scale:

• Behavioral data about consumers’ preferences and satisfaction.

If you have the budget, you can hire an agency to conduct a survey on your behalf or buy consumer reports from research and advisory companies like Forrester. If not, it’s worth spending a little time Googling marketing research reports because some might be available for free.

c) Market segmentation

Your goal here is to create a grid that divides the whole market into customer segments that share behavioral traits like product needs. If those segments also share demographic data like age or income brackets, even better, but that doesn’t happen too often.

This is already an application of the data gathered in the previous steps.

Here’s what proper market segmentation might look like for an email marketing service provider:

Note that this example isn’t based on any proper research or actual numbers. It’s here for you to understand the logic behind it.

As you can see, each segment should be described by:

• A fitting name describing their common behavioral trait and/or product needs
• Size of the segment (people or companies)
• Annual value of the segment
• Your current market share in the segment

The most challenging part of segmentation is coming up with the grid itself. In other words, by which behavioral traits do you divide the market? You should get the best answers for this in your previous data research.

Don’t worry about data accuracy here. Use the data you have about the market, extrapolate from your representative samples in your quantitative research, and make a few guesses. These estimations are good enough for you to decide which segments you’ll want to target.

We’ll come back to your segments in the targeting part.

d) Competitive analysis

You’ll use competitive analysis in every step of developing your marketing strategy. While you’ll inevitably learn about competitors in your data research, it’s crucial to create a standalone overview of the competitor landscape.

A competitive analysis consists of these eight steps:

• Find your competitors
• Get background information
• Analyze competitors’ products and services
• Get familiar with their targeting and positioning
• Discover competitors’ distribution channels
• Dive into communication strategies
• Do some ghost shopping
• Conduct a SWOT analysis

Here’s a mockup of the SWOT analysis outcome for a fictional email marketing service provider:

This is from my competitive analysis guide , which includes a template to help you get this done efficiently. Go check it out if you haven’t done this analysis yet.

2. Decide which segments you’ll target

The second step in developing a marketing strategy is to decide which segments of the market you’ll go after. Or perhaps I should say which segments you’ll ignore as deciding what not to do is often the more important choice.

But first, let me explain the difference between terms that we marketers tend to use interchangeably:

• Target segment  - a specific market segment you decide to go after.
• Target market - all your target segments combined, they buy and use the products in the category.
• Target audience  - everyone who resonates with your marketing communications regardless of whether they buy the products. For example, technology fans likely belong to the target audience of Tesla, but only a few of them will ever buy the car.

If you’ve done a good job with your segmentation, your target segments tend to be pretty obvious and easy to choose.

To choose your target segments, ask yourself these six questions:

• Does your product align with what the segment wants?
• Does it bring you the most value if you increase your market share there?
• Do you have the sales and marketing resources to increase your market share there?
• How difficult is it going to be to increase your market share there?
• Does this segment influence any other segments? If so, how?
• What are the trade-offs if you shift your focus on new segments?

Your ideal target segments are those where you can make the most money given the resources available.

Keep in mind that some segments might influence the buying behavior of other segments. Those can be influential people in B2C or leading companies in your industry in B2B. Consider this spill-over value as well:

As you can see from my market segmentation example, two relatively small segments influence the buying behavior of a much larger segment. If you decided to go after the “pro small senders” and “pro big senders” segments, you’d get new customers from the “influenced small senders” segment without ever targeting it.

Regarding the last question about trade-offs, you also have to consider that some of your current customers will inevitably leave for competitors. If you decide to shift your focus and resources elsewhere, it will be easier for your competitors to poach those customers from you.

Most importantly, keep in mind that targeting everyone is rarely the best strategy. Answering those six questions should make it obvious.

3. Appeal to your target market with proper positioning

Positioning is how your target market should perceive your brand. It’s the intended brand image that consists of associations people have with your brand and products. Positioning allows you to differentiate from your competitors, and in some cases, even influence how the target market perceives your competitors.

For example, there’s a lot in this message:

‘Burger King vs. McDonalds’ and ‘Apple vs. Microsoft’ are just famous examples of using the “versus” positioning type. You can easily do this from the position of the smaller player too:

But you don’t always need to pick a fight. First, it’s not necessary to succeed, and second, you’ll sometimes be walking on thin ice that may lead to bad publicity:

This is from Techradar’s reaction  to Wix’s campaign where they positioned themselves against WordPress. A lot of marketing and web development influencers were not impressed either:

So wix sent dozens of people super expensive headphones, pretending they are from WordPress, with a personalized video warning me about their new anti-WP campaign. I still like WordPress though and it seems most of the WP community is having a good laugh. Thanks @WordPress 😆 pic.twitter.com/llpH7gNfvC — Wes Bos (@wesbos) April 6, 2021

The thing is that you can succeed by focusing on your brand and products only.

The power of positioning lies in consistently communicating the few associations throughout all of your marketing channels. If you fail to do this, the market will do the positioning job for you. That will seldom align with your desired brand image.

So how do you come up with the key attributes that define your communication?

Dive into three Cs of positioning to come up with the right message

When you think about positioning, you need to take into account these three aspects of it, also known as 3 Cs of positioning:

• Competitors

Well, you should know your own company. The rest lies in your market research data again.

Put all the data together and come up with messages that are:

• Relevant - does the target segment care?
• Clear - will they get it?
• Authentic - will they believe it?
• Unique - does it stand out from your competitors?
• Achievable - can you deliver what you claim?
• Sustainable - can you maintain that position indefinitely?

While this process seems easy on paper, it requires a lot of thinking and vetting of ideas.

For example, we don’t have a slogan, but we make sure to highlight these attributes throughout our communications:

• Being the best all-in-one SEO product
• Ease of use
• Makes you better at marketing and SEO

Our homepage  immediately tells you what we do and how you can benefit from that:

The SEO industry knows us for being a product-led company that continues to grow fast without a sales team, and we don’t shy away from emphasizing this position—often in somewhat unique ways:

You need to come up with something impactful and not some over-glorified brand purposes or missions that mean nothing to the brand or its customers. Starbucks is a bad example of this, in my opinion:

I’m sure that everyone buying an overpriced, average coffee thinks about how it inspires and nurtures their spirit…

You can tell I’m not a Starbucks fan, but even I can think of two better attributes that they could focus on instead—their availability and convenience. It’s somehow implied in the mission statement, but the focus lies elsewhere.

Have a position for each target segment

If you target multiple segments with different behaviors and needs, you’ll need to make sure that you communicate what they care about.

For example, SEO professionals, marketers, and even ‘regular’ website owners all use our product. But their needs are very different. Our positioning attributes work regardless of target segments, but we certainly need to adjust the nitty-gritty separately.

We reflect that on pages where different segments are likely to land.

We target the biggest segment, website owners, on our freemium product page . The copy is written for SEO beginners:

It also utilizes the “versus” positioning type:

On the other hand, our product page for Site Audit  targets more seasoned marketers and SEOs:

Here’s the interesting thing about this: Site Audit is a core tool in the freemium product. We’re simply addressing the same thing from two very different angles.

4. Choose a few brand codes to become distinctive

A brand code, aka distinctive asset, is anything that you use consistently in your communications. You can think about it as your sidekick to positioning.

The most common brand code is your logo and visual style. But that’s about it for most brands. It’s not enough to stand out and be distinctive in the mind of your target audience.

Your ultimate goal should be that your target audience recognizes your brand even without showing any logos:

Your brand codes should be unique, which makes you distinctive, and ideally famous, which enables your existing audience to connect the dots easily.

At Ahrefs, besides our logo and the color blue, we also have two more brand codes. The first is our custom font:

The second is our bearded guy mascot, often accompanied by a corgi:

There are no limits to your creativity. All that matters is that you choose something you want your brand to be associated with and use it consistently.

More examples of brand codes include your own emojis, gifs, unique words, taglines, or even the style you advertise. Just think about Mastercard’s “priceless” campaigns.

You can stand out by focusing on non-visual things too. We all know McDonald’s I’m lovin’ it jingle  as an example of an auditory brand code. But you can even have your own smell, as is the case for some hotels and luxury brands.

5. Set strategic objectives for the year ahead

You need clearly defined marketing objectives  to guide your marketing efforts and provide benchmarks for evaluation. It’s all that’s left to do for your strategy now.

Your marketing objectives should align with the widely-used SMART criteria:

• Specific  - clearly stating the desirable outcome, answers “who, what, when, how much, …”
• Measurable  - you must be able to track progress with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
• Achievable  - be bold with your goals, but also realistic; use current growth as a benchmark.
• Relevant - does the objective align with your overall marketing and business strategy?
• Timely  - set up a time frame for achieving the goal.

An example of such objective could be:

Grow Ahrefs Webmaster Tools’ verified global user base from 100,000 to 500,000 by the end of 2021.

You should have one or two marketing objectives for each of your target segments for the year ahead. That would be a part of your marketing plan .

Strive for a combination of short and long-term objectives. In other words, have objectives that directly translate into more profit and others that help with brand building.

As a general rule, the ideal balance between marketing spend on sales uplift, and brand building is roughly 40:60. It’s one of the most important marketing concepts to keep in mind.

There’s an entire publication  dedicated to this concept. The key takeaway is that brand building is proven to be the primary driver of long-term growth and success.

Here’s an example of a marketing objective with a brand-building KPI :

Increase brand awareness among webmasters in the US from 25% to 40% by the end of 2021.

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Final thoughts

If you even remotely follow these steps to develop a viable marketing strategy, you’ll be better off than most marketers. Our industry seems somewhat fixated on pushing enticing “must-try” tactics as strategies. We can do better than that.

Look, if you come across a new cool marketing tactic  and it aligns with your strategy, sure, go ahead, give it a shot. But you’ll often find that it’s better to stick with your guns.

Even though creating a marketing strategy is around a third of what marketing entails—along with research and tactics— its output should be brief and easy to understand. It might take you weeks or even months to develop a great strategy, but you can distill that into a shortlist of target segments, positions, brand codes, and objectives.

Put simply: doing the research and strategy work sets you up for long-term success. Just revisit it once a year because your business, segments, competitors, and market dynamics evolve. Planning your marketing for the year ahead is also better with fresh data.

I need to give credit where credit is due.

Even though I studied marketing and have experience from strategic marketing positions, it was these four marketing masterminds who shaped my current marketing views the most:

Mark Ritson  - marketing professor, brand consultant, columnist, Mini MBA in Marketing  lecturer

Byron Sharp  - marketing professor and researcher, author of How Brands Grow

Peter Field  & Les Binet  - marketing effectiveness experts, authors of The Long and the Short of it: Balancing Short and Long-Term Marketing Strategies

This guide hugely drew inspiration from their articles, books, lectures, and talks I’ve studied over the years. If you want to become a better marketer who uses practices based on actual research, follow them and study their work.

Do you have any questions or remarks? Ping me on Twitter .

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What Is a Marketing Plan and How To Write One (+ Template)

Learn the key elements of a marketing plan, access templates to get started, and get tips on how to write an effective plan.

No matter how much you stick to a plan, things go wrong. As the famous quote by US President Dwight D. Eisenhower goes: “Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”

When it comes to ecommerce, consumer trends shift, circumstances change, and initial experiments don’t always go as planned. All of these things impact your marketing plan. 

Research shows that marketers who proactively write a marketing plan are 356% more likely to report success. So, what does a realistic ecommerce marketing plan look like? And how do you handle unexpected obstacles and overestimations that threaten your company’s marketing strategy? This guide shares the answers.

What is a marketing plan?

A marketing plan is the strategy a business uses to get its products or services in front of its target customer. It includes who the target market is, the channels used to reach them, and the messaging that will help the business sell its products. 

The purpose of a marketing plan isn’t to create a step-by-step, never-fail manual. Rather, it’s a roadmap to help you accomplish the best-case scenario, while also maintaining realistic expectations for your marketing initiatives and establishing backup plans if something doesn’t work.

Marketing plan vs. business plan

A business plan paints a bigger picture of how you plan to run your business. It includes a mission statement, products you’ll launch, and market research. A marketing plan, on the other hand, is a specific document that details how you plan to achieve these wider goals through marketing . 

Marketing plan vs marketing strategy

An overarching marketing strategy details how marketing will drive business results. A marketing plan is the route you’ll use to get there. It’s more specific than a strategy and includes a practical roadmap on how you’ll put your marketing activities into play. 

Free marketing plan template to help you get started

Creating your own marketing plan is no small job. You put hours into customer and competitor research to find the channels likely to have the biggest impact on your marketing goals. You can check out marketing plan examples , but when it comes to creating your own, you can save time with a template.

Ditch the intimidating blank screen by building a marketing plan using Shopify’s free marketing plan template. Use it to guide your marketing strategy, tweaking the template to meet your business needs.

Download the template now

Types of marketing plans

Digital marketing plan.

A digital marketing plan is a specific type of marketing plan that revolves solely around online channels like social media, email, and search engines. It doesn’t include offline channels like billboards or radio ads.

Social media marketing plan

A social media marketing plan focuses specifically on how a business will use social media to reach its target market. It gives you a framework of which channels you’ll use, the types of content you’ll create, whether you’ll invest in social media ads, and how you’ll drive product sales. This can take place either through your online store or a social media storefront such as Facebook and Instagram Shops .

Content marketing plan 

A content marketing plan details how you’ll produce content that turns people into paying customers. This can span multiple formats, including an email newsletter, infographics, product documentation, and user-generated content (such as social media posts). 

Alongside the more traditional elements of a marketing plan, a content-marketing-specific strategy would include:

• Keywords you plan to target
• Who you’ll use to create the content (e.g., freelancers or in-house marketers)
• How you’ll promote and repurpose your content

Offline marketing plan

An offline marketing plan details how a business will reach its target market without using digital channels. This might include billboards, radio ads, direct mail, event sponsorships, and outdoor advertising. 

How to write a marketing plan

Detail your unique value proposition, outline your buyer personas, run a swot analysis, detail product features and benefits, set key performance indicators, outline your marketing funnel.

• Define your marketing channels

Decide on your content formats

• Plan your marketing resources

Create a measurement and optimization plan

A unique value proposition underlines your entire marketing plan. Regardless of the channels and formats you plan to use, consistency is key. Mixed messages on what you sell and what your brand stands for will only confuse potential customers.

A simple way to refine your messaging is to focus on your unique selling point. Costco, for example, is cheaper than its competitors. Harper Wilde’s products are comfier than any other bra retailer. Find the marketing channels each retailer uses and you’ll see messaging centered around its adjective.

Consult your customers if you’re unsure what your value proposition adjective should be. Research is the biggest part of any copywriting process . Survey people who’ve already bought from you, run an Instagram poll to discover why people follow your brand, and see where your competitors’ weaknesses lie. Look for adjectives that crop up frequently during the process.

What overarching goal are you trying to accomplish with the business? Why does it exist? Summarize it in one sentence, and you’ll have a mission statement to inform everything you do, which includes your marketing strategies .

Going overboard with assumptions is a common mistake among marketers. The end result is a marketing plan that doesn’t actually result in revenue.

While data won’t give you a foolproof plan, every assumption is one more bit of uncertainty you’re folding into your marketing goals . If an amazing plan has a 40% chance of holding up to real-world scenarios, one without much rigor—and lots of assumptions—might hold up 10% of the time.

Consult your customer segments and buyer personas to get as much information as you can about the person buying your products, such as: 

• Demographic data (location, age, and income level) 
• Interests, goals, and challenges 
• Channels they use to discover new products

Be careful not to confuse this with your target audience . Children would be the target audience of a toy brand; parents are the buyer persona. The latter is who you’ll be reaching out to with your marketing plan. 

A SWOT analysis helps uncover your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats relative to your competitors. It’s useful to include one as part of your marketing plan because it can help anticipate problems you might encounter, make more data-driven decisions, and spot areas where you can get ahead of your competitors. 

Dive deep into the data you already have about your customer base by investigating marketing analytics , social media audiences, and customer surveys . It reiterates who you’re trying to reach—and more importantly, the triggers that would make them buy your product over a competitor’s.

Remind yourself of your unique selling proposition (USP) throughout this process. Tailor your marketing plan around key takeaways from these. 

Include any special features, competitive advantages, or customer favorites your marketing plan will lean on.

You could have the best mattress in the world—one made with 100 springs and cotton stitching, vigorously tested by sleep experts. But you’d struggle to market it if you lean too heavily on product features. A customer cares more about getting a peaceful night’s sleep than detailed product specifications.

“Every great marketing plan needs one thing first: a product that is 10 times better than the next,” says Nick Saltarelli, co-founder of Mid-Day Squares . “Once you have that, marketing is about deep human connections.”

Nick says, “It felt obvious that there was a sweet spot somewhere in between: people who wanted to follow along, and a true behind-the-scenes look into building a massive chocolate business from the ground up.”

As a result, the Mid-Day Squares marketing plan doesn’t prioritize product promotion. The brand instead “focuses on getting people to fall in love with us, the founders, to scale the human connection,” Nick says.

What are you trying to achieve with your marketing plan? Create both short- and long-term business goals that relate to financial metrics like revenue growth, retention , or new customers .

Most marketers measure success using return on investment (ROI) —the revenue you expect to generate after spending your marketing budget. It’s every marketer’s dream to get $100,000 in sales from $1,000 in marketing spend. While that isn’t the most realistic expectation, knowing your target ROI will prevent overspending. If your ROI is hurtling beyond your predictions, you can better allocate that budget to be spent elsewhere.

But there’s more to marketing measurement than dollar returns. Revenue isn’t always the end goal. Brand awareness, website traffic, and social media followers are short-term marketing objectives that aim to get new people into your marketing funnel. Nail them early on and you set your business up for success later down the road.

Not everyone will see your products and convert into a customer instantly. Most people progress through a sales funnel. Content that will make someone progress to the next stage depends on the one they’re currently in. 

If you were to use Facebook ads to sell your products to a generic audience modeled on your buyer persona, for example, you might not get the highest conversion rate. These people don’t know who you are, what you stand for, or why they should choose you over a competitor. 

But if you used Facebook ads to specifically target people at the bottom of your marketing funnel, you could use retargeting ads to show items someone had in their shopping cart. You’re bound to get a better return on your investment with this strategy because you’re only investing money into reaching people who just need a final nudge to convert. 

Let’s break down how you might outline your marketing funnel in a marketing plan. 

Top of the funnel (TOFU)

People at the top of your marketing funnel don’t understand who you are or what you sell. Social media, podcasts, and video content play huge roles here. Each channel is used by potential customers looking to learn or be inspired.

For this stage, prioritize metrics that give insight into how people are engaging with your top-funnel content, such as:

• Video views
• Website clicks
• Click-through rate (CTR)
• Cost per click (CPC)

Middle of the funnel (MOFU)

People reach the middle of the funnel when they know they have a problem that needs to be solved. Look at the marketing channels and formats you’re using to target these people. Most often, it’s search engines and retargeted ads.

Google Analytics is your best bet here. While the dashboard can feel overwhelming for a lot of people, you don’t need to look at every report. Use the following metrics to see how people engage with your middle-funnel content:

• Bounce rate
• Pages per session 
• Users by traffic source
• Email subscriber conversion rate 

To track the data above, especially for advertising campaigns, add the Meta pixel to all pages of your store.

Bottom of the funnel (BOFU)

Going for the hard sell? For marketing messages where the only goal is to convert your audience into paying customers, consult the back end of your ecommerce store. It’s home to sales and product-related data that helps you understand whether your marketing plan is successful, such as:

• Added to cart conversion rate
• Average order value (AOV)
• Number of orders
• Reached checkout conversion rate
• Sales conversion rate

Post-funnel and retention

Planning to build a steady stream of paying customers off the back of your ecommerce marketing plan? It's easy to assume revenue growth comes from audience growth. But oftentimes, the easiest way to grow your revenue is by focusing on the people we forget about: existing customers.

Resist the temptation to focus on flashy metrics like social media followers and YouTube subscribers. Instead, involve existing customers in your marketing plan. Use them as a source of testimonials and word-of-mouth referrals.

“Happy customers have been powerful word-of-mouth catalysts for our brand, and it has made sense to keep them engaged,” says Chris Campbell, partner at The Charming Bench Company . “We’ve been getting a steady stream of five-star ratings on websites and social media, which we then share on our Facebook, X [formerly known as Twitter], Pinterest, and Instagram profiles. It’s a great alternative to pushing loud sales messages that don’t always work.”

Define your marketing channels 

Channels are the platforms you’ll use as part of your marketing plan. Go back to your market research and uncover the online and offline channels your target audience is using to shop and get entertained or inspired.

Some of the most popular channels for ecommerce businesses include:

• Social media . Social media is used by more than six out of 10 people . Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and Pinterest are free to use (on the whole) and help brands reach their target audience. 
• Search engines . Some 44% of online shoppers start their product research on search engines. By making search engine optimization (SEO) part of your marketing plan, you can generate new business by reaching people when they’re actively looking for your products or services.
• Email marketing  and  SMS marketing . Email and text message inboxes are two of the most sacred places for a marketer to reach. A phone number or email address gives you a direct line of communication with your target customers, if they opt in to hear from you.
• Podcasts . Record conversations you have with your team, customers, or experts in the industry and share them with your audience. By establishing yourself or your brand as a thought leader in your industry, you’ll inspire confidence that in turn builds trust in your products.
• Offline channels. While digital marketing is vital in today’s world, offline and in-person marketing efforts can be equally powerful. Get in front of people when they’re not online, using channels like word-of-mouth recommendations , radio, billboards and outdoor advertising , or TV marketing campaigns.

There’s a sweet spot to how many channels your marketing plan should include. Go too wide and you burn resources on channels with poor returns. But become too reliant on one channel and you’re at risk.

Algorithms power most digital marketing channels. They’re praised as the type of technology that delivers personalized experiences for their users, but any changes to an algorithm can make marketing plans utterly useless overnight.

“If you rely on SEO, then any algorithm updates could potentially cut your revenue for months before you recover,” explains Marquis Matson, VP of Growth at Sozy . “If you rely on paid ads, then any changes to privacy policies can cut your revenue. If you rely on email marketing, then any ESP  [email service provider]  policy changes can cut your revenue. Diversifying your acquisition is crucial in a fast-paced digital marketing world.”

Footwear brand Hippy Feet is one ecommerce brand that failed to diversify channels. “The original marketing plan was to drive traffic to our Shopify store through ads—relying heavily on paid Facebook and Instagram traffic,” says Sam Harper, Hippy Feet’s co-founder and CEO. “While this is still a major component of our marketing strategy, the decreasing effectiveness of these ads has forced us to expand our marketing efforts.

“A diverse media strategy is crucial to helping an ecommerce business survive in this highly-dynamic market. By driving traffic through SEO, email, and media coverage, we’re more resilient and less impacted by a single tech platform changing their algorithm.”

For each channel, define which content formats you’ll use to capture attention and drive website traffic. That could include:

• Audio. Reach podcast and radio listeners with audio content. 
• Images. Capture visual learners and shoppers on visually dominant social media sites with infographics, GIFs, and memes.
• Video. Get listed on YouTube , the world's second largest search engine, with explainer videos and product demonstrations. Many social media platforms— Instagram and TikTok included—are also evolving to prioritize video content. 
• Written content. Most search engine results retrieve links to optimized written content, such as blogs , transcripts, or landing pages .

Content marketing is a beast that constantly needs to be fed. Customers want newer, fresher, more exciting content on a regular basis. That’s demanding for a small business to keep up with.

If this sounds unsustainable, consider a content marketing strategy that collects user-generated content (UGC) from existing customers. The more they share their experiences with others, the more content you have to repurpose on each channel. It’s an effective route to scale your content marketing plan and stretch your editorial calendar if your marketing department has limited resources. Don’t have time to invest in promoting the content you create? Partner with popular influencers in your niche—those whose loyal audience overlaps with your target market .

Your marketing budget is the dollar amount you expect to spend executing your marketing plan. If you’re bootstrapped, you can run a marketing plan on a tight budget .

As part of your own marketing plan, state whether you intend to use each channel organically or boost it with advertising. Most channels allow businesses to run sponsored content, which is guaranteed to reach your target market across online and offline channels, like door-to-door sales , social media, TV, billboards, and radio.

“I apply for any competitions, press opportunities, and awards to get my small business out there at any given opportunity,” says Terri-Anne Turton, founder of The Tur-Shirt Company . 

The strategy has worked: The Tur-Shirt Company has won a Junior Design Award for best fashion newcomer and a shoutout from media entrepreneur Steven Bartlett after entering his #DeserveToBeFound competition with Facebook.

“I focus on those my target market knows of to build credibility,” says Terri-Anne. “Plus, most of the awards I enter are free or low-cost; they just need some time investment and creativity to take part. It proves my USP to my target market—that my kids’ clothing products are unique—without investing thousands into advertising.”

While you can run a strategy with little to no budget, this section of your marketing plan needs to account for more than any planned advertising spend. Time is a resource that needs to be managed and accounted for. Be sure to detail how much time you plan to spend executing your marketing strategy.

If you have a designated marketing team, it’s also worth noting who will be responsible for each element of your marketing plan. Who’s responsible for this marketing plan? Which team members are executing it? What experience do they have with marketing?

More importantly, detail what you expect from the resources you’re putting into your marketing plan. If you plan to spend $40,000 throughout the coming year, how much revenue will you get in return? If you’re producing a marketing plan for a large or public company, this is what stakeholders really want to see.

Go back to the KPIs (key performance indicators) you set in the earlier section of your marketing plan. How will you determine whether you’ve met these KPIs? What happens if you’re exceeding or falling short of your target? It’s good to have a plan of action for either case.

Let’s put that into practice and say you expected to increase sales by 20% through your social media marketing plan. Detail exactly how you’d measure this, for example, you could say, “we’ll look at our Shopify sales report once per month and analyze which channel is meeting this KPI. If a channel falls behind, we’ll evaluate why and either adjust our marketing plan or deprioritize it in favor of more effective channels.” 

The best marketers approach their plans with an open mind. The hypothesis you started with might be proven wrong. Don’t take that as a negative. You just got closer to finding what will work. 

Tips for creating your marketing plan

Set conservative expectations.

While it’s good to approach your marketing goals with confidence, high expectations often lead to disappointment when we fail to meet them. That disappointment is magnified in a marketing plan, as stakeholders or founders will have already bought into unrealistic predictions and business objectives.

Start small

Don’t overwhelm yourself and your team by trying to generate results with all marketing tactics at once: running Facebook ads, tweeting like crazy, writing daily blog posts for SEO, and making constant changes to site and content strategy to improve your conversion rate.

If you’re very lucky, one of these tactics will bring you consistent traffic and sales. But more often than not, trying everything at once will make you extremely busy without anything to show for it.

Take it from Jameela Ghann, owner of Alora : “When we first started Alora, 10 years ago, our marketing plan was unrealistic. We were just a couple of people making plans that were good on paper but almost impossible to execute with a small team.” 

Originally, Jameela’s team planned to invest in several marketing channels—online and offline advertising, PR, trade shows, influencer marketing, and blogging included. However, the team changed its marketing plan. They went deep on one channel instead of spreading resources too thin by trying to be everywhere at once.

“We stuck to one course of action that was where our customers were, and ready to buy, and easiest for us to see a good ROI,” Jameela says. “What really worked for us was focusing on a handful of channels that we knew we could do well.”

Go back to your audience research and identify three channels your target audience uses most often. Put most of your energy into perfecting those before overcomplicating things with a more comprehensive marketing plan.

Use historical data as a guide

Past performance can help you temper your expectations for your marketing plan. If you know your click-through rate (CTR) for Facebook ads is 0.1%, don’t stray too far from that baseline with your social media marketing .

The same goes for website content optimized for search : If you’re currently getting 10,000 visitors per month from Google, scaling your traffic up to a million is a tough battle. Instead, 50,000 visitors is a more achievable goal.

Allow for flexibility

The purpose of a marketing plan isn’t to create a never-fail manual. Whether your marketing team has fallen victim to completion bias or focused too heavily on one channel, sticking rigidly to your original plan can be a big mistake.

Imine Martinez, assistant manager at Rainbowly , says: “Our regular campaigns targeting mainly birthday celebrations and anniversaries offered poor return on ad spend and inconsistent results over the months.

“That said, during festive seasons, such as Christmas or New Year’s, our targeted campaigns were particularly profitable, achieving five times return on ad spend with much cheaper cost per click and impression.”

Continuing with the same marketing strategies despite this data would only have resulted in heartbreak. Rainbowly would be pouring money down the drain on ads that wouldn’t perform, just because its marketing plan said to do so.

Creating a marketing plan is the first step

A lot of hard work goes into a successful marketing plan. To create an attainable one, you’ll need to spend hours diving into competitive research, audience data, and channels your target market consults when researching new products.

Most importantly, know that marketing is unpredictable. There are thousands of scenarios that fundamentally change the marketing strategy that’s best for your business. Global pandemics, PR crises, and the emergence of new social media platforms are unpredictable.

Treat your marketing plan like the best-case scenario. Plan SMART goals and strategies but remember to be flexible to give your marketing the best chance of success.

Marketing plan FAQ

How much does a marketing plan cost, how often should a marketing plan be reviewed, what are the 4 steps of a marketing plan.

• Conduct market research
• Outline your marketing channels and formats
• Create goals and measure performance

Why is marketing plan important?

What are some marketing plan mistakes.

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How To Write a Marketing Strategy for Your Business Plan

Potential investors want to see how you plan to sell

Alyssa Gregory is an entrepreneur, writer, and marketer with 20 years of experience in the business world. She is the founder of the Small Business Bonfire, a community for entrepreneurs, and has authored more than 2,500 articles for The Balance and other popular small business websites.

How Marketing Strategy Fits Into Your Business Plan

The 4 ps: product, promotion, price, and place, 7 tips for writing a marketing strategy, the bottom line, frequently asked questions (faqs).

Bulent Ince / E+ Collection / Getty Images

A marketing strategy is important for all businesses because it clearly outlines how they'll find new customers and promote their products and services to ultimately achieve more sales. You can use the marketing strategy as a stand-alone tool, as part of a marketing plan, or as part of a business plan, all with slightly different components.

Let's focus on some marketing strategy examples for your business plan. 

• A solid marketing strategy addresses the four Ps: product, promotion, price, and place.
• Your success can depend on understanding your clients’ needs and being flexible enough to find a way to meet them.
• Keep your budget in mind. You can only do what you can afford to do, and you should plan for accommodating periodic shortfalls.

The marketing strategy section of your business plan builds upon the market analysis section . The marketing strategy outlines where your business fits into the market and how you'll price, promote, and sell your product or service. It can also act as a source of important information for potential investors who are analyzing your business.

You can break down the key information in the marketing strategy section using the 4 Ps of marketing concept: product, promotion, price, and place.

Product can refer to either a physical product or a service that you plan on offering. Some of the product areas that fall into this section include:

• Related products or services
• Functionality

Promotion covers the various aspects of how you plan on marketing your product or service. The areas you should address include:

• Advertising
• Marketing budget
• Promotional strategy
• Publicity and public relations
• Sales force
• Sales promotion

This addresses the way you plan on pricing your product or service. The aspects of pricing you should address are:

• Bundling (if you have related products/services)
• Pricing flexibility
• Pricing strategy
• Retail price
• Seasonal price (if applicable)
• Wholesale (volume) price

Also known as distribution, this part is all about the delivery of your product or service to your customers. Some areas you should cover include:

• Distribution centers
• Distribution channels
• Inventory management
• Order processing
• Transportation
• Warehousing

Keep seven things in mind as you write the marketing strategy section of your business plan to make it as effective and relevant as possible.

Show How Unique You Are

The foundation of your marketing strategy should be your unique selling proposition (USP). This is the statement that outlines what differentiates you from everyone else in the market. Create your USP first, then build upon it by relating it to each of the 4 Ps.

The common thread through each part of your marketing strategy should be how your business solves a problem or meets a need better than anyone else.

Know Your Customers/Clients

The information you include in your marketing strategy should incorporate all the research you conducted in your market analysis . Make sure you have a clear idea of who your ideal customers or clients are, what they like, what they need, and what they expect. This will make your marketing strategy more accurate and applicable to your target audience.

Be Flexible

The 4 Ps of marketing work well for physical products, but you may have to tweak them a bit for services. For example, you might use your website instead of a physical location for the place section. Your website should also be a part of your promotion section, as should any social media platforms that you participate in.

Do Your Research

When you’re determining your pricing, you should have plenty of data to back up your decision when you're determining your pricing. Include industry reports, competitor ads, and comparisons that demonstrate the research you conducted and how you came to the conclusion that you're pricing your product or service correctly.

Use Visuals

As in other sections of your business plan, using charts, graphs, and images to illustrate your facts can make them easier for your audience to absorb and understand. Is your pricing right at the median of the industry? Are you planning to use a four-step distribution process?

Use visual aids to drive your point home.

Remember Your Budget

You'll outline the financial analysis of your company in another section of your business plan but keep those numbers in mind as you write your marketing strategy. Your marketing process may look good by itself, but you'll have a difficult time meeting your goals unless you tie it directly to your financial status.

Include Your Collateral

You should include samples as exhibits if you're going to talk about your marketing collateral in your marketing section. These might include brochures, fact sheets, videos, and photos.

Your marketing strategy is your overall plan for how you're going to make your business profitable. Larger enterprises might have different strategies for various arms of their operations. Sole proprietors carry the weight of a single plan on their own. But addressing all these components will increase your odds of success in any case.

What are the four types of marketing strategies?

Many consider the four Ps to be the basic types of marketing strategies, but others focus on four possible ways you can reach clients and consumers: search engine optimization, paid advertising, content marketing, and sales.

What are the seven Cs of marketing?

The seven Cs organize your marketing strategy. They can vary depending on who you talk to and the nature of your business, but you can tailor yours to best meet your goals and needs. Most include customer, consistency, creativity, and communication. Some include other factors, such as convenience, competition, credibility, culture, and change.

American Marketing Association. " The Four Ps of Marketing ."

Notes Learning. " 7 Cs of Marketing ."

OBC. " The 7 Cs of Marketing: How to Apply Them ."

• Digital Marketing Strategy and Planning
• Content Marketing
• Digital Experience Management (Desktop/mobile website)
• Email Marketing
• Google Analytics
• Marketing Campaign Planning
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
• Social Media Marketing
• Agency growth
• Business-to-Business
• Charity and Not-for-profit
• E-commerce / Retail
• Managing Digital Teams
• Managing Digital Branding
• Managing Digital Transformation
• Managing Lifecycle Marketing
• Managing International Marketing
• Startup and Small Businesses

How to create a marketing plan in 2024

7 steps to creating an effective marketing plan for businesses of all sizes

A marketing plan is a bit like a job description for your company. Everyone should have one, but they’re often not fit for purpose, out of date, and reviewed infrequently...

Research has shown that businesses with plans succeed, outperform competitors, and retain staff, more than those with no plan.

Without a plan there’s no direction for the company or its employees, decisions can be uninformed, opportunities can be missed and threats can damage or destroy the business.

Whether you are looking at creating a traditional marketing plan or a multichannel digital marketing plan, we've got resources to help you.

Free marketing plan template aimed at small businesses

In this article, Annmarie Hanlon recommends 7 simple steps for structuring a classic marketing plan. But for an SME or SMB, you need a little more detail about prioritizing your investment of time and money in your communications channels as we've mentioned.

Our Free marketing plan template download , by our co-founder Dr. Dave Chaffey who developed the RACE Planning Framework, provides a little more detail needed for a 'real-world' plan to grow a business.

Free marketing plan template download

Use our simple three-page Microsoft Word template if you work for a small business who needs to create a simple, practical marketing plan quickly. It's structured in three sections of steps using the acclaimed RACE Growth System for improving marketing results

Access the Free marketing plan template

What is a marketing plan?

A marketing plan is your place to document the process of defining and implementing your marketing strategy and creating a roadmap for future growth and business development. A marketing plan should be customer-centred, focused on your target audience and the value propositions you will deliver to them.

The key element of marketing strategy within the plan that you need to compete effectively is the Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning strategy for your brand, known as STP for short. These stages in target marketing strategy development that should be central in your marketing plan are summarized in Figure 4.10 in Digital Marketing: Strategy, Development and Planning created by Dave Chaffey of Smart Insights.

Your plan must reference Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning as essential sections you must cover in a classic marketing plan for a large business. However, for smaller businesses, you also need more practical strategies for how you will reach and engage your audiences using the key digital marketing channels today including search, social media and email marketing and then how you will persuade and convert your audience on a website or on your social pages. So, for a small or medium business (SME or SMB depending on where you are reading) your marketing plan must also include communications strategies to help you achieve your goals. That's why Smart Insights created the RACE planning framework to give guidance on how to best plan and action best practices for these channels.

How to create and structure a marketing plan

To structure your marketing plan, we recommend utilizing the Smart Insights RACE Growth System, an easy-to-use strategic marketing framework that helps you identify opportunities, strategies, and actions to help you drive growth, at each stage of your marketing funnel.

As the visual shows, our OSA process, of which you can see examples in different sectors in our editable Word plan templates, is structured in three parts:

• Opportunity : Situation review including marketplace analysis (customers, competitors and channel partners), performance analysis and Vision and SMART Objective setting based on forecasting (spreadsheet tools available in our templates)
• Strategy : Segmentation, Targeting and Positoning (STP) and the tactics forming the 7Ps of the marketing mix.
• Action : Budget, resourcing including team and tools and marketing technology (Martech) and 90-day action plans.

As a marketer, every activity will fall into either an opportunity, strategy, or action. With a strong marketing plan in place, you will be able to measure each of these elements, and more importantly, ensure all marketing activities remain integrated.

Some marketing plans, such as this Chartered Institute of Marketing recommendation on How to write a marketing plan define more stages, but particularly for smaller businesses we believe the simpler  Opportunity > Strategy > Action enables you to communicate your plan better!

Identify marketing opportunities

Let's now look at what you need to include in your plan, starting with your opportunities. A marketing plan is not just a list of activities to work on! To identify the opportunities to prioritize and challenges to overcome. You need to start with internal audits, external analysis, and goal setting - to give your marketing a purpose. We recommend summarizing your key issues based on a TOWs analysis which is a powerful form of SWOT analysis explained in our post giving SWOT analysis template examples .

Through our RACE Planning Framework, you can access tools and templates designed to help you optimize across 25 opportunities, integrated across each stage of RACE, which you can see in the infographic below:

Starting with these holistic approaches, you will quickly identify opportunities for growth and can plan strategies and actions that help you achieve your vision for your business. That's why opportunities are the first step in our OSA cycle.

Identify marketing strategies

Now you know what you want to do, strategy is working out how to achieve your goals in an efficient and effective manner. To do so, you'll likely lean on guides, templates, and models to inform your strategy.

Making good business decisions to inform your budgets, investment priorities, and key metrics are all elements of a successful marketing strategy.

Marketing plan actions

Of course, the final stage of any marketing strategy is putting it all into place!

To help you manage your time and marketing outputs, our RACE Growth System is structured around short 90-day planning cycles. This means you will see quarterly growth, as well as setting longer-term annual goals.

Quarterly measurement and reporting allow marketers and business owners to spot trends and make optimizations in a shorter timeframe too, to keep cycling customers through your dedicated marketing funnel experience.

Example marketing plan structure

It can be daunting to develop a marketing plan for the first time, so let's walk through the basics together. If you're looking for a practical, simple, data-driven marketing plan, these 7 factors will help you create and action your plan with success.

Step 1. Customer analysis (Opportunity)

A good plan starts by asking 'Where are we now?'. Gain an overview via your customers, but don’t forget to ask the right questions. One of my pet hates is the ‘hypothetical question’ e.g. A hotel asking “if you would stay here again?” It’s possible you would stay there again, but if it’s been a one-off visit it’s very unlikely it will actually happen. Removing hypothetical questions ensures you capture facts, not fiction.

If you’ve got a start-up business or are looking at a marketing plan for a totally new area, many other research resources are available including online reports, insights via trends and conferences. This informs your business decision and ensures the plan is fundamentally sound.

Step 2. Marketing audit (Opportunity)

After you’ve captured customer insights, the next step is a comprehensive review or audit of the business. Most countries publish statistical data on businesses in their region. This can tell you the number of businesses in specific sectors, average numbers of employees, average earnings, average income per household and more. This valuable information highlights market values, market potential and opportunities. This enables you to understand where your business sits in its market sector and the market share available.

A key element of the audit is the SWOT and whilst you and many marketers are familiar with the SWOT analysis, you may be less familiar with the McKinsey 7S framework of business. Taking a holistic look at the business, thinking about Strategy, Structure, Systems, Staff, Style, Skills and Shared values forms a base for your SWOT. Business members can access a 7S and SWOT template in the smart insigths Business marketing plan guide .

Part of a marketing audit is competitor benchmarking. Really understanding what the competitors offer. The more you understand how they work, the more likely you are to be able to predict their next move. You won’t be one of these companies that says “we never saw it coming”. Tools such as Google Alerts help you embed this as an automatic ongoing process.

One of my clients ensured they always got the early news on their key competitor by buying some of their shares! It meant they had access to latest reports, and newsletters and could attend annual meetings to hear what other shareholders thought. This was all for an investment of £150.

Step 3. Create sustainable objectives: Where do we want to go? (Opportunity)

It’s easy to create general objectives; it’s harder to develop SMART objectives.

Taking this one stage further, businesses that use numbers alone often miss key values inside the business. It’s easy to become numbers-driven; it’s harder to create ‘softer’ objectives. In Emarketing Excellence (2022), Dave Chaffey and PR Smith developed the 5s model, initially as a mechanism for reviewing websites. I’ve used this for many years to develop business objectives. It tends to challenge the thinking within a business and gets the owners and managers considering the business as a whole, rather than sales alone.

Look at your business. Do you have SMART objectives for:

• The sales forecast; sales figures, number of new clients wanted?
• Customer service; how can you improve the service to customers?
• Communication (speak) providing information to clients?
• Saving time, increasing your business efficiency and reducing costs?
• The wow factor! Adding sizzle to make your business stand out from the crowd?

Step 4. Segment your customer base (Strategy)

Key strategic initiatives for your business will include one or more of these options:

• Enter new markets
• Develop new products
• Improve the competitive position of the business
• Maintain the competitive position
• Harvest part of the business
• Exit the business

When you know the strategic initiatives the business is taking, it’s easier to segment your customer base, whether you’re B2B, B2C or a blend of both. You can use the mnemonic SUPERB to identify your customer segments:

• Size – Is the market large enough to justify segmenting?
• Unique – Do measurable differences exist between segments?
• Profits – Do anticipated profits exceed the costs of additional marketing plans and other changes?
• Easy Access – Is each segment easily accessible to your team?
• Reaction – Is the market able to react to your communications?
• Benefits – Will the different segments need different benefits?

Step 5. Target new customers and position your business (Strategy)

Growing a business always involves finding new customers, this may be different segments or markets and may encourage your business to look at product development.

What opportunities are there in your business to:

• Sell more of your existing products or services to your existing customer base? (Market Penetration Strategy)
• Introduce your existing product range to a new customer group? (Market Development Strategy)
• Augment or improve the existing product offer? (Product Development Strategy)
• Move into a new market with a new product offer using the skills within the business? (Diversification Strategies)

Pricing is a critical area in any business. Kotler (1988) described nine marketing mix strategies on price quality, which we look at in detail in the Business marketing plan guide for Business members, to support your pricing strategy development.

A pricing matrix is a really useful tool for product marketers or managers because it helps you identify opportunities within your product and pricing strategies. Don't forget to research which of these strategies are your main competitors using too and make sure to use key messages to help differentiate yourself.

Step 6. Create your marketing action plan (Action)

The key to making it happen is to create a detailed marketing action plan. If you don’t have time to conduct each step yourself, you can explore other options and contract out specific tasks to an external consultant or agency.

I have found that an Action Plan that includes more detail, nominates someone to do the work and sets dates by when it should be completed, is more likely to get done than a loose set of instructions. A good action plan becomes ’work instructions’ for different people.

Busy marketing managers may enlist support from the admin team who often relish the opportunity to carry out new tasks, as long as they have a detailed brief. Or for more specialized work, marketing managers may wish to enlist an Agency.

Step 7. Monitor, manage and improve (Action)

The final step is about monitoring action, managing the process and measuring results. The 7 steps to make your plan happen are:

• It is essential to maintain the impetus, start the plan today, not tomorrow.
• Appoint one person to monitor the entire plan and give them the authority to do so.
• Regular meetings should be held to review the plan. These could be 20-minute meetings at the start of the week.
• If you don’t do it today, your competitors will start tomorrow.
• If one item is difficult to start, move on to the next area.
• At the end of each quarter, review what has taken place and where more help is needed.
• The most successful businesses stick to the plan and make it happen – whilst still getting on with the day job.

Other types of marketing plan

As the world of digital marketing continues to develop, many find that particular functions within marketing require their own planning document. See examples of where this may be useful below:

• New product marketing plan: Launching a new product requires its own planning, this process can be make or break for your product. Find out about the product launch plan that generated $1 billion in 60 days .
• Content strategy: 98% of marketers believe 'having or following' a content strategy is 'important for marketing success'.
• Nich marketing strategy: Niche marketing considers the narrow category into which your business falls and targets specific subsets of customers accordingly.

But, remember, it is recommended to define one flagship plan for the whole team, for governance and accountability, before branching out into secondary planning.

One final tip; set a start and an end date for creating and launching the marketing plan , if not, the audit stage could continue indefinitely! Download your free guide and get started today.

Use our simple three-page Microsoft Word template if you work for a small business who needs to quickly create a simple, practical marketing plan quickly. It's structured in three sections of steps using the acclaimed RACE Growth System for improving marketing results

By Annmarie Hanlon

Annmarie Hanlon PhD is an academic and practitioner in strategic digital marketing and the application of social media for business. Dr Hanlon has expertise in the strategic application of social media for business and the move from digitization, to digitalization and digital transformation for business. Her expertise spans consumer touch points, online customer service, the use of reviews, the role of influencers, online engagement and digital content. You can follow her update on Twitter https://twitter.com/annmariehanlon

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Table of Contents

How to make a business plan

How to make a good business plan: step-by-step guide.

A business plan is a strategic roadmap used to navigate the challenging journey of entrepreneurship. It's the foundation upon which you build a successful business.

A well-crafted business plan can help you define your vision, clarify your goals, and identify potential problems before they arise.

But where do you start? How do you create a business plan that sets you up for success?

This article will explore the step-by-step process of creating a comprehensive business plan.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a formal document that outlines a business's objectives, strategies, and operational procedures. It typically includes the following information about a company:

Products or services

Target market

Competitors

Marketing and sales strategies

Financial plan

Management team

A business plan serves as a roadmap for a company's success and provides a blueprint for its growth and development. It helps entrepreneurs and business owners organize their ideas, evaluate the feasibility, and identify potential challenges and opportunities.

As well as serving as a guide for business owners, a business plan can attract investors and secure funding. It demonstrates the company's understanding of the market, its ability to generate revenue and profits, and its strategy for managing risks and achieving success.

Business plan vs. business model canvas

A business plan may seem similar to a business model canvas, but each document serves a different purpose.

A business model canvas is a high-level overview that helps entrepreneurs and business owners quickly test and iterate their ideas. It is often a one-page document that briefly outlines the following:

Key partnerships

Key activities

Key propositions

Customer relationships

Customer segments

Key resources

Cost structure

Revenue streams

On the other hand, a Business Plan Template provides a more in-depth analysis of a company's strategy and operations. It is typically a lengthy document and requires significant time and effort to develop.

A business model shouldn’t replace a business plan, and vice versa. Business owners should lay the foundations and visually capture the most important information with a Business Model Canvas Template . Because this is a fast and efficient way to communicate a business idea, a business model canvas is a good starting point before developing a more comprehensive business plan.

A business plan can aim to secure funding from investors or lenders, while a business model canvas communicates a business idea to potential customers or partners.

Why is a business plan important?

A business plan is crucial for any entrepreneur or business owner wanting to increase their chances of success.

Here are some of the many benefits of having a thorough business plan.

Helps to define the business goals and objectives

A business plan encourages you to think critically about your goals and objectives. Doing so lets you clearly understand what you want to achieve and how you plan to get there.

A well-defined set of goals, objectives, and key results also provides a sense of direction and purpose, which helps keep business owners focused and motivated.

Guides decision-making

A business plan requires you to consider different scenarios and potential problems that may arise in your business. This awareness allows you to devise strategies to deal with these issues and avoid pitfalls.

With a clear plan, entrepreneurs can make informed decisions aligning with their overall business goals and objectives. This helps reduce the risk of making costly mistakes and ensures they make decisions with long-term success in mind.

Attracts investors and secures funding

Investors and lenders often require a business plan before considering investing in your business. A document that outlines the company's goals, objectives, and financial forecasts can help instill confidence in potential investors and lenders.

A well-written business plan demonstrates that you have thoroughly thought through your business idea and have a solid plan for success.

Identifies potential challenges and risks

A business plan requires entrepreneurs to consider potential challenges and risks that could impact their business. For example:

Is there enough demand for my product or service?

Will I have enough capital to start my business?

Is the market oversaturated with too many competitors?

What will happen if my marketing strategy is ineffective?

By identifying these potential challenges, entrepreneurs can develop strategies to mitigate risks and overcome challenges. This can reduce the likelihood of costly mistakes and ensure the business is well-positioned to take on any challenges.

Provides a basis for measuring success

A business plan serves as a framework for measuring success by providing clear goals and financial projections . Entrepreneurs can regularly refer to the original business plan as a benchmark to measure progress. By comparing the current business position to initial forecasts, business owners can answer questions such as:

Are we where we want to be at this point?

Did we achieve our goals?

If not, why not, and what do we need to do?

After assessing whether the business is meeting its objectives or falling short, business owners can adjust their strategies as needed.

How to make a business plan step by step

The steps below will guide you through the process of creating a business plan and what key components you need to include.

1. Create an executive summary

Start with a brief overview of your entire plan. The executive summary should cover your business plan's main points and key takeaways.

Keep your executive summary concise and clear with the Executive Summary Template . The simple design helps readers understand the crux of your business plan without reading the entire document.

2. Write your company description

Provide a detailed explanation of your company. Include information on what your company does, the mission statement, and your vision for the future.

Provide additional background information on the history of your company, the founders, and any notable achievements or milestones.

3. Conduct a market analysis

Conduct an in-depth analysis of your industry, competitors, and target market. This is best done with a SWOT analysis to identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Next, identify your target market's needs, demographics, and behaviors.

Use the Competitive Analysis Template to brainstorm answers to simple questions like:

What does the current market look like?

Who are your competitors?

What are they offering?

What will give you a competitive advantage?

Who is your target market?

What are they looking for and why?

How will your product or service satisfy a need?

These questions should give you valuable insights into the current market and where your business stands.

4. Describe your products and services

Provide detailed information about your products and services. This includes pricing information, product features, and any unique selling points.

Use the Product/Market Fit Template to explain how your products meet the needs of your target market. Describe what sets them apart from the competition.

5. Design a marketing and sales strategy

Outline how you plan to promote and sell your products. Your marketing strategy and sales strategy should include information about your:

Pricing strategy

Advertising and promotional tactics

Sales channels

The Go to Market Strategy Template is a great way to visually map how you plan to launch your product or service in a new or existing market.

6. Determine budget and financial projections

Document detailed information on your business’ finances. Describe the current financial position of the company and how you expect the finances to play out.

Some details to include in this section are:

Startup costs

Revenue projections

Profit and loss statement

Funding you have received or plan to receive

Strategy for raising funds

7. Set the organization and management structure

Define how your company is structured and who will be responsible for each aspect of the business. Use the Business Organizational Chart Template to visually map the company’s teams, roles, and hierarchy.

As well as the organization and management structure, discuss the legal structure of your business. Clarify whether your business is a corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, or LLC.

8. Make an action plan

At this point in your business plan, you’ve described what you’re aiming for. But how are you going to get there? The Action Plan Template describes the following steps to move your business plan forward. Outline the next steps you plan to take to bring your business plan to fruition.

Types of business plans

Several types of business plans cater to different purposes and stages of a company's lifecycle. Here are some of the most common types of business plans.

Startup business plan

A startup business plan is typically an entrepreneur's first business plan. This document helps entrepreneurs articulate their business idea when starting a new business.

Not sure how to make a business plan for a startup? It’s pretty similar to a regular business plan, except the primary purpose of a startup business plan is to convince investors to provide funding for the business. A startup business plan also outlines the potential target market, product/service offering, marketing plan, and financial projections.

Strategic business plan

A strategic business plan is a long-term plan that outlines a company's overall strategy, objectives, and tactics. This type of strategic plan focuses on the big picture and helps business owners set goals and priorities and measure progress.

The primary purpose of a strategic business plan is to provide direction and guidance to the company's management team and stakeholders. The plan typically covers a period of three to five years.

Operational business plan

An operational business plan is a detailed document that outlines the day-to-day operations of a business. It focuses on the specific activities and processes required to run the business, such as:

Organizational structure

Staffing plan

Production plan

Quality control

Inventory management

Supply chain

The primary purpose of an operational business plan is to ensure that the business runs efficiently and effectively. It helps business owners manage their resources, track their performance, and identify areas for improvement.

Growth-business plan

A growth-business plan is a strategic plan that outlines how a company plans to expand its business. It helps business owners identify new market opportunities and increase revenue and profitability. The primary purpose of a growth-business plan is to provide a roadmap for the company's expansion and growth.

The 3 Horizons of Growth Template is a great tool to identify new areas of growth. This framework categorizes growth opportunities into three categories: Horizon 1 (core business), Horizon 2 (emerging business), and Horizon 3 (potential business).

One-page business plan

A one-page business plan is a condensed version of a full business plan that focuses on the most critical aspects of a business. It’s a great tool for entrepreneurs who want to quickly communicate their business idea to potential investors, partners, or employees.

A one-page business plan typically includes sections such as business concept, value proposition, revenue streams, and cost structure.

Best practices for how to make a good business plan

Here are some additional tips for creating a business plan:

Use a template

A template can help you organize your thoughts and effectively communicate your business ideas and strategies. Starting with a template can also save you time and effort when formatting your plan.

Miro’s extensive library of customizable templates includes all the necessary sections for a comprehensive business plan. With our templates, you can confidently present your business plans to stakeholders and investors.

Be practical

Avoid overestimating revenue projections or underestimating expenses. Your business plan should be grounded in practical realities like your budget, resources, and capabilities.

Be specific

Provide as much detail as possible in your business plan. A specific plan is easier to execute because it provides clear guidance on what needs to be done and how. Without specific details, your plan may be too broad or vague, making it difficult to know where to start or how to measure success.

Be thorough with your research

Conduct thorough research to fully understand the market, your competitors, and your target audience . By conducting thorough research, you can identify potential risks and challenges your business may face and develop strategies to mitigate them.

Get input from others

It can be easy to become overly focused on your vision and ideas, leading to tunnel vision and a lack of objectivity. By seeking input from others, you can identify potential opportunities you may have overlooked.

Review and revise regularly

A business plan is a living document. You should update it regularly to reflect market, industry, and business changes. Set aside time for regular reviews and revisions to ensure your plan remains relevant and effective.

Create a winning business plan to chart your path to success

Starting or growing a business can be challenging, but it doesn't have to be. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting, a well-written business plan can make or break your business’ success.

The purpose of a business plan is more than just to secure funding and attract investors. It also serves as a roadmap for achieving your business goals and realizing your vision. With the right mindset, tools, and strategies, you can develop a visually appealing, persuasive business plan.

Ready to make an effective business plan that works for you? Check out our library of ready-made strategy and planning templates and chart your path to success.

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Plans and pricing.

What is Strategic Marketing Planning? A Step-by-Step Guide

In today’s fiercely competitive business environment, understanding what is strategic marketing planning and creating a successful plan is crucial to achieving growth, profitability, and long-term sustainability.

This step-by-step guide will not only help you comprehend the importance of what is strategic marketing planning but also provide essential insights on how to develop and implement a well-rounded marketing strategy to stay ahead of the competition.

Short Summary

• Strategic marketing planning is a systematic approach to achieving business objectives and optimizing resources.
• Key components include market research, target audience identification, objective setting & utilization of the 4 Ps of marketing.
• The process involves effective execution & monitoring with regular reviews for successful results and continuous improvement.

Understanding Strategic Marketing Planning

Strategic marketing planning is a systematic approach that our agency follows to reach predetermined marketing objectives. It provides the essential foundation, guidelines, and steps to achieve those objectives. Strategic planning plays a pivotal role in optimizing marketing efforts and achieving better results, ultimately leading to business growth and profitability.

Definition and significance

Strategic marketing planning is defined as a systematic approach to achieving marketing goals through the analysis, segmentation, and identification of competitive advantages. Efficient marketing operations are crucial for the successful strategic marketing implementation of the successful strategic marketing plan. By employing successful strategic marketing planning , businesses can ensure that their marketing plan is well-executed and delivers the desired results.

Crafting a successful marketing strategy primarily emphasizes the marketing mix, which consists of the following:

Incorporating price into a strategic marketing plan is essential to guarantee that the value of the product is justified to prospective customers.

Key components

The essential elements of strategic marketing planning include:

• Market research
• Identification of the target audience
• Establishment of objectives
• Formulation of the marketing mix
• Assessment of performance

A SWOT analysis is a tool used to evaluate a company’s internal strengths and weaknesses in comparison to external opportunities and threats.

Defining the ideal customer profile is crucial in creating efficient marketing communication strategies, conserving time and resources by concentrating on the requirements of the current consumer, and serving as the foundation of any marketing campaign.

The Strategic Marketing Planning Process

The strategic marketing planning process is a comprehensive approach to achieving business objectives by conducting market research, identifying the target audience, and setting marketing goals that align with overall business objectives. This process enables marketers to gain an understanding of the business’s current standing and craft suitable marketing strategies, optimizing marketing efforts and achieving better results.

By following this process, marketers can ensure that their marketing efforts are aligned with the overall business objectives.

Market research and analysis

Market research and analysis play an essential role in understanding external factors, market trends, and consumer behavior and conducting a competitive analysis to identify potential opportunities and threats. By analyzing the business environment, prevailing market trends, and consumer behavior, the likelihood of the marketing plan’s success is enhanced.

A competitive analysis assists in identifying opportunities for improvement in the largest competitors’ marketing strategies, enabling the agency to focus on areas where they are lagging behind.

Identifying target audience

Identifying the target audience involves:

• Defining the ideal customer profile based on similarities between existing clients and prospective customers
• Recognizing the target audience is significant in the strategic marketing planning process
• Assisting businesses in creating efficient marketing communication strategies
• Conserving time and resources by concentrating on the requirements of the current consumer
• Serving as the foundation of any marketing campaign

It is important to understand the target audience in order to create effective marketing campaigns that will reach the target audience.

Setting marketing goals

Setting marketing goals requires using prior data and desired business outcomes to establish realistic objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). In strategic marketing planning, specific marketing goals may include acquiring a certain number of new clients, growing followers on social media, or sourcing additional leads for the sales funnel.

Establishing marketing objectives enables the ability to:

• Assess performance
• Assign resources
• Maintain a clear direction
• Make decisions based on data
• Ultimately leads to improved marketing results.

Developing Marketing Strategies

Developing marketing strategies involves crafting the marketing mix and selecting appropriate marketing channels to reach the target audience effectively. The marketing mix is a combination of product, price, promotion, and place, which can be utilized to select marketing channels by determining which channels are most effective at reaching the target audience.

By understanding the target audience and the marketing mix, marketers can determine which channels are most effective.

Crafting the marketing mix

Crafting the marketing mix involves focusing on the four Ps of marketing to create a comprehensive marketing strategy. The components of the marketing mix are:

A successful marketing strategy primarily emphasizes the marketing mix.

Each of the four is one of the four. Ps of marketing must be carefully considered when creating a marketing strategy. Product refers to a product.

Selecting marketing channels

Selecting marketing channels involves choosing the most effective digital and traditional channels to boost brand recognition, draw in new customers, and accomplish marketing objectives. Digital channels such as websites, social media, email, search engine optimization, and online advertising are available, as well as traditional channels such as television, radio, print, and outdoor advertising.

Choosing marketing channels can assist businesses in:

• Connecting with their target audience
• Maximizing visibility
• Utilizing resources effectively
• Increasing brand recognition
• Monitoring and assessing outcomes.

Implementing and Monitoring the Strategic Marketing Plan

Implementing and monitoring the strategic marketing plan involves executing the plan, managing projects, and measuring performance to ensure success. Execution and project management are essential components of the strategic marketing plan, which can be ensured by using tools such as Teamwork or Plaky to assign tasks, set timelines, and track milestones.

These tools can help ensure that the plan is executed on time and that all tasks are completed.

Execution and project management

We utilize project management tools such as Teamwork or Plaky to assign tasks, set timelines, track milestones, and ensure the successful implementation of the marketing plan . These tools offer a convenient solution to marketing planning by providing capabilities for task management and assignment, as well as a pre-made marketing strategy plan template.

With these tools, teams can easily collaborate on tasks, assign deadlines, and track progress. This is a very good article.

Performance measurement

Performance measurement entails tracking progress, assessing effectiveness, and making data-driven modifications to marketing strategies, tactics, and KPIs/OKRs. Monitoring progress assists in assessing the efficacy of marketing strategies and tactics and in recognizing areas that require adjustment.

Assessing effectiveness enables us to recognize which strategies and tactics are successful and which are not and to make adjustments as needed.

Adapting to Market Changes

Adapting to market changes in the strategic marketing planning process involves:

• Modifying the marketing strategy to remain competitive
• Consistently reviewing and updating the marketing plan
• Recognizing and responding to the changing needs of the target market.

It may also include product adaptation to appeal to a new or evolving customer base.

Regular review and updates

To avoid potential implementation issues caused by fluctuating internal and external factors and to guarantee compatibility with corporate objectives, it is essential to regularly review and revise the strategic marketing plan.

Regular review and updates of the strategic marketing planning process are essential for the following:

• Assessing effectiveness
• Responding to changing market conditions
• Ensuring alignment with business goals
• Optimizing resources.

Continuous improvement

Continuous improvement involves executing, monitoring, and refining the marketing plan to reach goals, increase competitiveness, and foster strategic thinking. Launching, executing, reporting, and iterating the marketing plan should be done in an orderly fashion to ensure objectives are met, competitiveness is increased, and strategic thinking is promoted.

Ongoing improvement is fundamental for any effective strategic marketing plan. It guarantees that the plan is current and that objectives are being achieved. Moreover, it encourages strategic thinking and boosts competitiveness.

In conclusion, a successful strategic marketing plan is pivotal to achieving business growth, profitability, and long-term sustainability. Through a step-by-step approach involving market research and analysis, target audience identification, goal setting, marketing strategy development, implementation, monitoring, and continuous improvement, businesses can adapt to market changes, stay competitive, and achieve their objectives.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the marketing strategy planning.

Strategic marketing planning is the process of creating a plan to achieve a specific marketing goal, such as increasing revenue and profits or improving the brand’s visibility. Companies use this process to outline their objectives, the programs they’ll use to reach them, who is responsible for those metrics, and when they’ll be achieved.

These objectives are typically broken down into short-term and long-term goals, each goal having its own set of strategies and tactics. The plan should also include a timeline for when each goal should be achieved, as well as a budget.

What is the purpose of a strategic marketing plan?

Strategic marketing planning is an essential process that involves creating a plan to reach specific marketing goals. This plan outlines objectives, programs, who is responsible, and when the goals need to be achieved in order to increase revenue and profits, gain visibility, discourage competitors, or improve their appearance.

What are the five parts of a strategic marketing plan?

A strategic marketing plan consists of five core components: product, price, promotion, place, and people. These are the key elements that you need to focus on in order to create a successful plan that will help your brand reach its goals.

Each of these components should be carefully considered and planned out in order to ensure that your plan is effective. The product should be tailored to meet the needs of your target audience, while the price should be reasonable.

What are the 4 phases of strategic marketing planning?

The 4 phases of strategic marketing planning are formulation, implementation, evaluation, and modification. This process involves setting goals and objectives, analyzing internal and external business factors, product planning, implementation, and tracking progress to ensure successful outcomes.

Setting goals and objectives is the first step in the process. This involves identifying the desired outcomes and the resources needed to achieve them. Internal and external business factors must be considered.

What are the key components of strategic marketing planning?

Strategic marketing planning involves market research, target audience identification, goal setting, creating a marketing mix, and assessing performance. It is essential for businesses to have an effective strategy in place to be successful.

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What Is a Business Plan?

Understanding business plans, how to write a business plan, common elements of a business plan, the bottom line, business plan: what it is, what's included, and how to write one.

Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a financial writer with 15+ years Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader. Besides his extensive derivative trading expertise, Adam is an expert in economics and behavioral finance. Adam received his master's in economics from The New School for Social Research and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in sociology. He is a CFA charterholder as well as holding FINRA Series 7, 55 & 63 licenses. He currently researches and teaches economic sociology and the social studies of finance at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

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A business plan is a document that outlines a company's goals and the strategies to achieve them. It's valuable for both startups and established companies. For startups, a well-crafted business plan is crucial for attracting potential lenders and investors. Established businesses use business plans to stay on track and aligned with their growth objectives. This article will explain the key components of an effective business plan and guidance on how to write one.

Key Takeaways

• A business plan is a document detailing a company's business activities and strategies for achieving its goals.
• Startup companies use business plans to launch their venture and to attract outside investors.
• For established companies, a business plan helps keep the executive team focused on short- and long-term objectives.
• There's no single required format for a business plan, but certain key elements are essential for most companies.

Investopedia / Ryan Oakley

Any new business should have a business plan in place before beginning operations. Banks and venture capital firms often want to see a business plan before considering making a loan or providing capital to new businesses.

Even if a company doesn't need additional funding, having a business plan helps it stay focused on its goals. Research from the University of Oregon shows that businesses with a plan are significantly more likely to secure funding than those without one. Moreover, companies with a business plan grow 30% faster than those that don't plan. According to a Harvard Business Review article, entrepreneurs who write formal plans are 16% more likely to achieve viability than those who don't.

A business plan should ideally be reviewed and updated periodically to reflect achieved goals or changes in direction. An established business moving in a new direction might even create an entirely new plan.

There are numerous benefits to creating (and sticking to) a well-conceived business plan. It allows for careful consideration of ideas before significant investment, highlights potential obstacles to success, and provides a tool for seeking objective feedback from trusted outsiders. A business plan may also help ensure that a company’s executive team remains aligned on strategic action items and priorities.

While business plans vary widely, even among competitors in the same industry, they often share basic elements detailed below.

A well-crafted business plan is essential for attracting investors and guiding a company's strategic growth. It should address market needs and investor requirements and provide clear financial projections.

While there are any number of templates that you can use to write a business plan, it's best to try to avoid producing a generic-looking one. Let your plan reflect the unique personality of your business.

Many business plans use some combination of the sections below, with varying levels of detail, depending on the company.

The length of a business plan can vary greatly from business to business. Regardless, gathering the basic information into a 15- to 25-page document is best. Any additional crucial elements, such as patent applications, can be referenced in the main document and included as appendices.

Common elements in many business plans include:

• Executive summary : This section introduces the company and includes its mission statement along with relevant information about the company's leadership, employees, operations, and locations.
• Products and services : Describe the products and services the company offers or plans to introduce. Include details on pricing, product lifespan, and unique consumer benefits. Mention production and manufacturing processes, relevant patents , proprietary technology , and research and development (R&D) information.
• Market analysis : Explain the current state of the industry and the competition. Detail where the company fits in, the types of customers it plans to target, and how it plans to capture market share from competitors.
• Marketing strategy : Outline the company's plans to attract and retain customers, including anticipated advertising and marketing campaigns. Describe the distribution channels that will be used to deliver products or services to consumers.
• Financial plans and projections : Established businesses should include financial statements, balance sheets, and other relevant financial information. New businesses should provide financial targets and estimates for the first few years. This section may also include any funding requests.

Investors want to see a clear exit strategy, expected returns, and a timeline for cashing out. It's likely a good idea to provide five-year profitability forecasts and realistic financial estimates.

2 Types of Business Plans

Business plans can vary in format, often categorized into traditional and lean startup plans. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) , the traditional business plan is the more common of the two.

• Traditional business plans : These are detailed and lengthy, requiring more effort to create but offering comprehensive information that can be persuasive to potential investors.
• Lean startup business plans : These are concise, sometimes just one page, and focus on key elements. While they save time, companies should be ready to provide additional details if requested by investors or lenders.

Why Do Business Plans Fail?

A business plan isn't a surefire recipe for success. The plan may have been unrealistic in its assumptions and projections. Markets and the economy might change in ways that couldn't have been foreseen. A competitor might introduce a revolutionary new product or service. All this calls for building flexibility into your plan, so you can pivot to a new course if needed.

How Often Should a Business Plan Be Updated?

How frequently a business plan needs to be revised will depend on its nature. Updating your business plan is crucial due to changes in external factors (market trends, competition, and regulations) and internal developments (like employee growth and new products). While a well-established business might want to review its plan once a year and make changes if necessary, a new or fast-growing business in a fiercely competitive market might want to revise it more often, such as quarterly.

What Does a Lean Startup Business Plan Include?

The lean startup business plan is ideal for quickly explaining a business, especially for new companies that don't have much information yet. Key sections may include a value proposition , major activities and advantages, resources (staff, intellectual property, and capital), partnerships, customer segments, and revenue sources.

A well-crafted business plan is crucial for any company, whether it's a startup looking for investment or an established business wanting to stay on course. It outlines goals and strategies, boosting a company's chances of securing funding and achieving growth.

As your business and the market change, update your business plan regularly. This keeps it relevant and aligned with your current goals and conditions. Think of your business plan as a living document that evolves with your company, not something carved in stone.

University of Oregon Department of Economics. " Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Business Planning Using Palo Alto's Business Plan Pro ." Eason Ding & Tim Hursey.

Bplans. " Do You Need a Business Plan? Scientific Research Says Yes ."

Harvard Business Review. " Research: Writing a Business Plan Makes Your Startup More Likely to Succeed ."

Harvard Business Review. " How to Write a Winning Business Plan ."

U.S. Small Business Administration. " Write Your Business Plan ."

SCORE. " When and Why Should You Review Your Business Plan? "

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Marketing is an often misunderstood profession. Peers often stereotype marketing with massive budgets, loosey-goosey timelines, haphazard tactics, high-profile influencers, and Snapchat filters. In reality, modern marketing plans are more complex and orchestrated than a Premier League-winning football team.

Businesses have big goals to hit and fine margins to walk—and they need realistic, yet imaginative, marketing plans to make it happen. Sure, bigger companies can spend all willy-nilly hiring Taylor Swift for a commercial op and dropping a quarter million on Facebook advertising, but small businesses and startups have to get downright strategic with every dollar they spend.

If your business is trying to stretch every penny, you’ve come to the right place. This article will show you how to create a marketing plan in 2024 that actually works with a down-to-earth budget. We’ve included step-by-step actions, outlines, examples, and more to give you everything you need to take an idea to the market with laser precision.

Table of Contents

What is a marketing plan?

How to create a marketing plan

Marketing plan template

Marketing plan example

Marketing Plan FAQs

What Is a Marketing Plan?

A marketing plan is a documented roadmap for how you plan to drive awareness, sales, signups, attendance, or other marketing initiatives. It outlines your KPIs, budget, and timeline, dictating everything from the critical milestones to the nitty-gritty to-do items.

Marketing plans come in all shapes and sizes. You could build an overarching marketing plan to document and guide your entire department’s annual goals and strategies for the upcoming year. Or you might create a marketing plan detailing the launch strategy for the brand-new product release coming out next quarter. Big plans can even include small plans, just like an adorable collection of Russian nesting dolls.

Plans can be short, long, fat, or thin—just remember what your plan is trying to accomplish. If you’re trying to pitch an idea to a team of venture capitalists or a local bank, you might need a chunky document with accompanying spreadsheets and financial figures. However, if you’re trying to communicate the plan to your marketing team leads, you’ll want to skip straight to the point with tactics, deadlines, and deliverables.

Regardless of your use case, the next section will give you the building blocks you need to create a marketing plan that works.

How to Create a Marketing Plan

This section will show you the 7-step process to creating a marketing plan. Plans are fluid and versatile, so we don’t recommend filling out one of these with pen and paper—get your eraser ready because a marketing plan is never perfect from the get-go.

Here’s an overview of the 7-step process:

• Establish Your Marketing Goal
• Identify Your Audience and Competitors
• Set Your Marketing Budget
• Determine Your Deadline(s)
• Pick Your Marketing Channels and Tactics
• Outline the To-Do List and Make Assignments
• Track Performance and Review Analytics

Don’t worry too much about making it all nice and pretty right now. Later, you can use our provided marketing outline to copy, paste, and format a more articulated version for widespread distribution. For now, just focus on hashing out each section and answering the thought-provoking questions.

1. Establish Your Marketing Goal

Define exactly what you’re trying to achieve. Do you want to drive more sales? How much? What about recurring customers? How many? Do you need to increase brand awareness? To whom and by how much?

Work out the details of what you want to accomplish, why, and how you’re going to measure it. Establish your KPIs early on to measure the success of your marketing campaign. You’ll refer to these numbers throughout the rest of your marketing plan, so get specific.

For example, how many website visitors you’re trying to drive will affect your marketing budget, deadlines, and tactics. And if you’re targeting a specific demographic, you may need to engage different marketing teams to use the appropriate channels and messaging.

Fine-tune your marketing goal so that you can communicate it simply in a single sentence. For example: “The goal is to drive 25,000 key decision-makers to the new product page by the end of October with a limited marketing budget of $75,000.”

2. Identify Your Audience and Competitors

Explain who this campaign is targeting. If you’ve already built out your buyer personas, you’ll just plug in the persona appropriate to this campaign. However, if this is your first time thinking long and hard about your target audience, really get to know the person you’re marketing to.

Depending on your product, industry, and market, you’ll want to know demographics like:

• Marital status

These details help you identify a broad audience, but you’ll want to narrow it down with psychographics.

Psychographics dig deeper . They cover your audience’s:

• Influencers
• Shopping behaviors

Demographics explain the “who,” while psychographics explain the “why.”

Think about if you were trying to sell a baseball glove. How you market that glove is going to be very different depending on the buyer. Are your messaging and channels targeting a college athlete, recreational youngster, mom, dad, or low-income family? It’s hard to know what to say and how to say it unless you know who you’re talking to.

Don’t just gloss over this section. Without a target audience, you’ll be blindly throwing darts at a board—sure, some plans might work out, but it’ll come down less to strategy and more to sheer luck. A target audience and replicable formula make your success a science and not a game of Russian roulette.

Once you’ve identified your audience, you need to figure out who’s also targeted the same people. Competition research is a way to understand who you are up against for eyeballs, SEO rankings, and influence, but it also can serve as an opportunity to fill gaps in our needs that your competitors are missing.

One easy way to do this is to look at comment sections or reviews of similar companies in your industry. Look for:

• Frequent complaints about product design.
• Consistent issues with customer service.
• Ads or branding language that falls flat.
• If the competitor hasn’t made a product their customers are asking for.

By identifying your competitor’s weaknesses or gaps their missing with their customers, you’ll have a treasure trove of marketing copy to use in order to differentiate your business from the pack.

3. Set Your Marketing Budget

Marketing plans need budget constraints. Without a cap, plans could hypothetically include:

• 60-second Super Bowl commercial
• Cristiano Ronaldo as a celebrity endorser
• Billboard advertisements along the entirety of Route 66

For most startups, that’s just not a possibility.

And it’s not where the magic happens. Powerful marketing plans turn tiny marketing budgets into impressive ROI. They prioritize the right channels, messaging, and tactics to stretch every dollar to the max.

Decide beforehand how much budget you’ll need to allocate to meet the goals you set in Step 1. When push comes to shove, you may need to throw additional money at the campaign later to get it across the finish line, but stay strong and do your best to create a marketing plan that works with the budget constraints.

Tight on budget but full on creativity? Check out our Small Business Marketing Guide: From Scratch to Success .

4. Determine Your Deadline(s)

Deadlines create the boundaries to your marketing campaign—you can’t have a plan without them. No deadlines mean there’s a never-ending period to achieve your objective, and it’s probably not a good idea to have a 20-year free pass to accomplish that sales goal you set.

Set your deadline. Be realistic, but also be ambitious. The faster you achieve this goal, the faster you can move on to the next one—and each progressive goal should be moving your business forward.

Establish the final deadline for achieving your primary KPI. Then, set the necessary milestones along the journey. For example, you might set milestones for launching different aspects of your campaign, such as hosting 4 webinars, publishing 10 supporting blog posts, or earning a callout in 2 prime news outlets.

Finally, set the start date for when you’ll need to get the ball rolling to meet your deadlines. Don’t assume it’s ASAP—you might have a few weeks to get your ducks in a row instead of immediately heading off into a chaotic marketing battle.

5. Pick Your Marketing Channels and Tactics

This is arguably the funnest part of creating a marketing plan. This is the step where you get to choose the channels, tactics, and deliverables. The right channels and tactics will vary depending on your audience and product or service, but here are the most popular ones to consider:

• Email Marketing: Email marketing is one of the tried-and-true tactics of the digital marketing world. It generates an average ROI of $40 for every $1 invested —you can’t get much more bang for your buck than that. (Check out our complete email masterclass to learn how to conquer this lucrative channel.)
• Social Media Marketing: Whether you’re running organic strategies or targeted paid campaigns , social media marketing is an excellent modern-day tactic for reaching consumers where they’re most comfortable: Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, or TikTok.
• PPC Marketing: Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing lets you run advertising campaigns on search engine pages and other websites across the internet. It’s a competitive way to get your content in front of the right eyeballs.
• Content Marketing: Content marketing paired with a solid search engine optimization (SEO) strategy is a long-term tactic that can drive organic traffic (read: free) to your website for years to come.

And do you know what all these channels have in common? They each give you the ability to monitor your results and track your progress to prove if a channel is worth your time and money. Unlike traditional outbound advertising and its estimated impressions and influence, you know exactly what you’re getting with these digital marketing strategies.

6. Outline the To-Do List and Make Assignments

Here’s where you get into the nitty-gritty of your marketing plan. Step 6 is where you’ll outline everything that needs to get done:

• Launch meeting
• Recurring meetings and syncs
• Creative assets
• Promotional channels
• Post-mortems

And that’s just the start. Outline everything that needs to happen to make your plan a reality. Once you know what needs to happen, it’s time to start making assignments. Someone needs to be responsible for every deliverable.

Here’s where you may run into roadblocks. You may discover that your creative team is overwhelmed and won’t be able to handle the creative requests until later, or you may find that other email campaigns or social media advertisements are the top priority.

If that’s the case, go back to Step 4 to revisit your timeline. Make adjustments to ensure there’s bandwidth available to make your marketing plan a reality.

7. Track Performance and Review Analytics

No marketing plan will go off without a hitch. That’s why you need your ear to the ground to understand what’s working. Through analytic tools, you can understand if your marketing plan’s target audience, messaging, or creative needs adjusting. Thankfully, most digital tactics allow you to do this on the fly.

Make sure you familiarize yourself with these basic marketing analytics tools:

• Facebook Ads Manager
• Google Analytics
• Google Search Console
• Semrush or Ahrefs for SEO

For more on analytics, read our marketing metrics guide .

Marketing Plan Template (Copy/Paste)

Marketing Plan Template: [Name of Project]

Marketing Plan Example (Filled Out)

Here’s a fake content marketing plan example for a fictitious shoe company.

Marketing Plan Template: [Project Zeus Running Collection]

Marketing Goal Drive $200,000 in sales for the new Zeus running collection within the first 4 months of launch day.

Target Audience The primary audience is 35 to 50-year-old male recreational runners who tend to run 30-40 miles a week at an average page of 8:00-10:00 minutes per mile. They’re not overly competitive, but they like to race 5K and 10K races occasionally throughout the year and are always trying to beat their personal best. Many have experienced mild injuries over the last few years that the Zeus Running Collection can help alleviate.

Marketing Budget We have a budget of $40,000 for the initial launch period. If we can prove out the Zeus Running Collection, we’ll allocate additional budget after the first 4 months.

• Launch Day: June 1
• Marketing Assets Ready to Go: May 28
• Pre-Launch Teaser: May 24
• Creative Assets Finished: May 21
• Product Beta Tester Reviews Submitted: May 10
• Written Content Creation Period: April 12 – May 7
• Enlist Beta Testers: April 12
• Project Kickoff Meeting: April 5

Marketing Tactics

• Social Media Marketing: Target runners on Instagram and Facebook with paid ads featuring our endorsed runner racing in the shoe.
• Email Marketing: Email existing customers with a 15% off discount code on the new Zeus Running Collection. Email prospects with a link to the product breakdown page with a code for free shipping.

Responsibilities and Assignments

• Lizzy K: Creative assets
• Mark B: Blog post announcement + product page
• Spencer S: Beta tester outreach
• Larry G: Email and social media marketing campaigns
• Carly M: Project manager

Do I need to write a marketing plan for everything?

As stated earlier, marketing plans can come in all shapes and sizes. But that doesn't mean you need one for every single Facebook ad or whitepaper your team creates. The best marketing plans serve as a source of truth for your team to reach a goal. Within the marketing plan, you should have enough wiggle room to adjust your strategy and tactics. Marketing is an art and science, so there are bound to be surprises once you start executing your plan.

How do I know if my marketing plan is a success?

One of the most common mistakes marketers make is creating a seemingly perfect marketing plan and then going off script as soon as there's a sign of trouble or distraction. Using the SMART goal method (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound) is a simple way to ensure your marketing plan is applicable. Every marketing plan should be a success, whether you hit your goal or not, because you'll learn something new about your customer, tactics, and business throughout the process.

Who should make a marketing plan?

If you're reading this article, ideally you. A marketing manager or marketing team member typically writes marketing plans, but marketing strategy should start at an enterprise level. The more people understand the marketing plan for your business, the more you can work together (not in silos) to achieve a common goal. You'll see this happen in larger organizations where the marketing team works plan that the product or sales team have no idea about.

Plan It Out—Make It Happen

Every great campaign starts with an even better plan. Don’t leave your startup’s success up to chance—give it all the thought and attention you can.

With the right plan in place, you won’t be crossing your fingers on launch day or during the quarterly review. You’ll be sitting confidently, knowing that everything is running according to plan.

Need a high-level plan for your startup? We got you covered with our foundr+. Get access for $1. .

About Jesse Sumrak

Jesse Sumrak is a writing zealot focused on creating killer content. He’s spent almost a decade writing about startup, marketing, and entrepreneurship topics, having built and sold his own post-apocalyptic fitness bootstrapped business. A writer by day and a peak bagger by night (and early early morning), you can usually find Jesse preparing for the apocalypse on a precipitous peak somewhere in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

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Your Guide to Creating a Small Business Marketing Plan

Follow these templates and guidelines to get started on your business's marketing plan.

Table of Contents

To have a successful business, you need a well-thought-out marketing plan to promote your products or services. Although making a few social media posts or blasting a few promotional emails may seem simple enough, disjointed marketing efforts not only confuse your target audience, but can ultimately harm your business. 

What is a marketing plan?

A marketing plan is a strategic road map for how you communicate (online and offline) with your target audience to successfully promote your products or services. Depending on your goal, marketing plans can be extremely basic or highly detailed.

According to Molly Maple Bryant, vice president of marketing at Vibrent Health, a marketing plan is not simply a list of things you want to accomplish. Instead, it should list the outcomes you seek — measurable and contextual, like the pipeline you’re developing, or leads you’re generating — and it should explain the high-level strategies you will use to achieve those outcomes. Developing strategies can be complicated, but they make a major difference in keeping you on track and avoiding diversions, also called scope creep .

“Once you have an agreed-upon plan, you are able to compare any incoming requests against your strategies to determine ‘Yes, this adheres to my strategy so we can add it,’ or ‘No, this sounds good in theory, but it doesn’t adhere to our agreed-upon strategy, so we won’t adjust resources,'” Bryant told us.

Types of marketing plans

There are several different types of marketing plans you can use based on certain strategies that make sense for your organization. Your business will likely need a combination of the following marketing plans to create an effective, comprehensive marketing strategy:

• Advertising plan
• Branding plan
• Content marketing plan
• Customer acquisition plan
• Direct marketing plan
• Email marketing plan
• Public relation plan
• Print marketing plan
• Reputation management plan
• Retention plan
• Search engine optimization plan
• Social media marketing plan

Why is it important to have a marketing plan for your business?

A marketing plan is a crucial resource for any small business because it helps you identify the market needs your product or service meets, how your product is different from competitors, and who your product or service is for. Marketing plans also serve as a road map for your sales strategy, branding direction and building your overall business. This is important for successfully conveying your brand messaging to your target audience .

Another significant benefit of a marketing plan for your company is that rather than simply guessing metrics, it forces you to sit down and do the math about your business goals and how to realistically fulfill them. When you look at your growth outcomes, you can delve further to determine what it will take to get to those numbers.

Bryant offered the following example: “Need $100,000 in revenue? How many sales is that? If 10, what’s your close rate? Let’s say 10 percent from lead to closed deal. Now you have a metric to start with — to get to 10 sales, we need 100 leads. Where will they come from, and what strategies will you use? The plan helps you put it all on paper so you can map out resources and tactics later with a lot of preparation and realism,” said Bryant.

When analyzing outcomes and resources, you can save time and avoid scope creep by focusing only on strategies that are relevant to your marketing plan. A marketing plan helps you think realistically about your strategies, gets your stakeholders on the same page, and holds your marketing team accountable for their decisions.

“When everyone’s tasks and goals are laid out for the stakeholders and company partners to see, it is much easier for the entire team to feel at ease about reaching sales goals and allowing the marketing team the space and freedom needed to execute work without constant supervision,” said Cassady Dill, digital marketing consultant and owner of Ethos Agency.

Additionally, Dill said a marketing plan should be easily understood by your entire team, executives and outside departments. Your plan should also serve as an easy guide for future marketing managers and team members to understand and implement.

What are the key elements of an effective business marketing plan?

A marketing plan should be customized to fit your business; however, Dill said, all marketing plans contain five essential functions:

• Your business goals
• Key metrics (how you quantify and measure success)
• Strategies (an overview of implementation and how that will achieve goals)
• A plan (the details of execution and the human resources, departments and software that will be involved)
• Reporting (what reports of progress will include and/or look like)

We broke down those five functions into 10 actionable categories to help you create a marketing plan that is unique and effective for your business.

1. Executive summary

The executive summary is a great place to give the reader of your plan an overview of your business’s mission or goals, as well as the marketing strategy you’re looking to employ. An executive summary is often written after you’ve completed the rest of the marketing plan, to ensure it covers all the important elements of your plan. If the executive summary is the only part of your marketing plan that someone reads (which is highly possible), you want to be sure they understand the most crucial details.

2. Mission statement

The mission statement , not to be confused with a vision statement, is a statement that encompasses your company’s values and how they relate to your overall goals as an organization. Here are some good questions to get you thinking:

• What does your company do today?
• What’s important to your company?
• What would your company like to do in the future?
• What is your brand identity?
• What’s your culture like ?
• How does your company benefit customers, employees and stakeholders?

3. Target markets

Identifying your target market is one of the most important parts of your marketing plan. Without a defined target audience, your marketing expenses will be wasted. Think of it like this: Some people need your service or product but don’t know it exists yet. Who are those people?

Here are some other questions to help you brainstorm your target market :

• What is the demographic of your customers (gender, age, income, education, etc.)?
• What are their needs and interests?
• What’s their psychographic profile (attitudes, philosophies, values, lifestyle, etc.)?
• How do they behave?
• What are some existing products they use?

4. Products and services

In this section, don’t just list what your product or service is. Think critically about what you have to offer your customers and what that value proposition means to them.

• What do you make or provide for customers?
• What are your customers’ needs?
• How does your product or service fulfill customers’ needs?
• What value do you add to your customers’ lives?
• What type of product or service are you offering?

5. Distribution channels

At this point in your report, you should transition your thinking into actual marketing theory and practices. Distribution channels are the avenues you’ll use to reach a prospective customer or business . Think of all current and potential sales channels on which your specific target audience is active. One distribution channel that works great for one organization may be useless to another. For example, one company may host their website for free on a site like HubSpot and solely rely on that as their sales channel, while another company may have a whole team of people using Pinterest to drive sales. [Learn how CRM systems can help track your marketing leads based on various distribution channels.]

Examples of sales channels include the following:

• Mobile text message marketing
• Social media
• Print (newspapers, magazines, brochures, catalogs, direct mail)
• Broadcast (TV, radio)
• Press releases
• Trade shows, product demonstrations, event marketing

6. Competitive profile

One of the major aspects of your marketing plan is developing your unique selling proposition (USP). A USP is a feature or stance that separates your product or service from competitors. Finding your USP is all about differentiation and distinguishing your company as a sole proprietor of one type of good or service. Conduct a competitive analysis to identify your competitive profile and how you stack up against the competition. It is important to remain unbiased when conducting this analysis.

Here are some ideas to consider:

• What’s your USP?
• Who are your competitors? What do they offer?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of your competition?
• What needs of the market (or customer) are not being served? What can you do to meet those needs?

7. A pricing strategy

Consider pricing when drafting your marketing plan. Developing the right pricing strategy helps you better market your product. Think about your current and projected finances when developing a long-term marketing strategy that is realistic and beneficial for your business. Here are some key questions to ask yourself about your pricing:

• What are reasonable margins to make a profit and cover production costs?
• Is there a market for products or services at your projected price point?
• Are you willing to sacrifice profit margins in return for a greater market share?
• What are your marketing and distribution costs?

8. Objectives

Consider your objectives when developing a marketing plan. This aspect of your plan should involve specific goals related to market penetration and revenue targets. Be sure to keep your marketing objectives on-brand with your business. Here are some things to consider:

• Sales quotas
• Number of new customers gained
• Customer retention percentages
• Revenue targets
• Market penetration
• Brand awareness
• Website traffic

9. Action plans

With all of the above items outlined, determine what steps need to be taken to enact your marketing plan. This includes determining the proper steps, setting goals, breaking down responsibilities, and establishing an overall timeline.

It’s also important to brainstorm potential roadblocks your business could face and some solutions to overcome them. Your research is useless if you don’t have an actionable plan that can be realistically implemented to carry out your ideas.

10. Financial projections

This last step allows you to establish a realistic marketing budget and better understand your marketing plan from a cost perspective. In addition to setting a budget, consider the overall return on investment as well. Here are some other financial projections to consider:

• Cost of implementation
• Cost to produce product or service
• Existing and projected cash flow
• Projected sales
• Desired profit margin on projected sales

What is a template for creating a successful marketing plan?

The internet is full of useful tools, including paid and free marketing plan templates, to help you build a successful marketing plan .

Whether you are looking for a free template generator to build a new marketing plan or a benchmarking tool to evaluate your current strategies, several great resources are available. Keep in mind that the best marketing plan for your business will be a customized one.

“Ultimately, you should design a marketing plan that best serves the needs of your team as you see fit,” said Dill. “Don’t force yourself into a plan that doesn’t fit your team. Use templates to shorten the workload time, but then adjust it for a more custom plan.”

Here are some tools and templates to get you started:

• Free marketing plan template : business.com has developed a free template that is fully customizable based on the needs of your business. Each section provides in-depth explanations, examples and resources to help you create an impressive marketing plan.
• Smart Insights: In addition to offering marketing plan templates, some companies, like Smart Insights, offer marketing benchmarking templates to help you evaluate your strategy performance. These are accessible with a free Smart Insights membership.
• GERU: Similarly, GERU offers a funnel-planning, profit-prediction and simulation tool to help you assess mock business ideas and simulations. This can help you identify weak points in your marketing strategy that need improvement. Although GERU requires users to sign up for a paid account, you can access a free trial to test it out.

What mistakes should you avoid when creating your marketing plan?

When creating an effective marketing plan, you need to avoid falling for common missteps and mistakes. For starters, failing to identify any of the 10 actionable categories above is an obvious mistake.

Here are some other key mistakes to avoid:

• Setting unrealistic budgets: Underestimating the costs of marketing activities or setting an unrealistic budget can limit your ability to execute your plan effectively. Marketing can be expensive, so it’s important to fully understand the estimated cost and budget before building a marketing strategy that you can’t afford.
• Focusing on quantity over quality: “More” doesn’t always mean “better” if you are posting on irrelevant marketing channels or your efforts are bringing in unqualified leads. Prioritizing the quantity of marketing activities over their quality can lead to superficial engagement and a lack of meaningful results.
• Not testing campaigns: Launching large campaigns without testing can lead to wasted resources if the messaging or tactics don’t resonate as expected. Test out your new campaigns to ensure they achieve your intended goal.
• Ignoring customer feedback: You may be tempted to ignore negative feedback, but disregarding customer comments and failing to address their concerns can lead to negative perceptions of your brand. Instead, use customer feedback to your advantage to improve your product and marketing efforts.
• Overpromising and underdelivering: Setting unrealistic expectations in your marketing messages that your products or services can’t fulfill can damage your brand’s reputation.
• Ignoring seasonality and trends: Failing to account for seasonal trends and market changes can result in missed opportunities for timely marketing efforts.
• Not reviewing and updating your plan: A rigid marketing plan that doesn’t allow for adjustments in response to market feedback and changing conditions can hinder your success. A marketing plan should be a living document that is regularly reviewed and updated to reflect changes in the market and your business’s goals.

Avoiding these mistakes and missteps can help you create a more effective and successful marketing plan that drives results for your business.

How can you take action with your new marketing plan?

Before you dive into marketing plan templates, it’s important to understand how to think about a marketing plan.

A good marketing plan targets who your buyers are, establishes the service or product you are offering, and determines your unique selling proposition. From here, you will tackle the marketing planning process and develop the best way to get your product in front of buyers who want your product or service.

Dill created a simple four-step process for how small businesses can take action with creating a marketing plan.

• The first step is to hold a marketing meeting with all the marketing team and executives or stakeholders. This gives them time to offer questions, concerns and criticisms you haven’t thought of so you can go back to the board room and revise your strategy or plan.
• Next, add a timeline to all your tasks and assign team members and all the help you’ll need to execute that plan.
• Once your plan is in action, hold weekly check-ins in person or by email to keep everyone on track.
• Share a weekly progress report with all parties involved and execs to ensure you are moving in the right direction.

In addition to drafting your own plan, you can work with a digital marketing agency or use internet marketing and pay-per-click management services to leverage your online presence.

Once you’ve established a general road map, update it annually. Developing an evolving marketing plan sets your business up for continued success because it allows you to prepare for the unexpected and establish a connection between your brand and your audience.

Matt D’Angelo contributed to this article. Source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article.

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What is a marketing strategy? Definition and examples

A Marketing Strategy is all of a company’s marketing goals and objectives combined into a single comprehensive plan. Business executives draw a successful marketing strategy from market research. They also focus on the right product mix so that they can get the most profit.

Put simply; a marketing strategy is a strategy designed to promote a good or service and make a profit. In this context, the word ‘ good ‘ means the same as ‘ product .’

A good marketing strategy helps companies identify their best customers. It also helps them understand consumers’ needs. With a good strategy, it is possible to implement the most effective marketing methods. A good real estate marketing plan, for example, requires extensive community engagement and personal networking.

To broaden your knowledge and widen the range of strategies you could implement, you should learn about CPA marketing , digital marketing, word of mouth marketing, and relationship marketing.

Marketing strategy is long-term

Stewart Dunlop, founder at  LinkBuilder.io , says that marketing strategies are long-term, forward-looking approaches to planning. Their fundamental goal is to achieve a competitive advantage.

When a company has an edge over a rival or rivals in the provision of a product or service, it has a competitive advantage . Mercedes, for example, has a competitive advantage over other luxury car-makers because its vehicles maintain their value.

Mercedes did not obtain this competitive advantage overnight or because it was lucky. It was part of the company’s long-term strategy. Specifically, part of its marketing strategy.

A marketing strategy has details on where you want to get to. A marketing plan explains how you are going to get there.

Marketing strategy vs. marketing plan

Many people use the two terms interchangeably, but their meanings are quite different.

Marketing strategy

This includes an explanation of the goals a company needs to achieve with its marketing efforts. A company’s business goals shape its strategy.

Every business’ business goals and marketing strategy should go hand-in-hand.

Further Reading: Best Practices to Manage & Create Multiple LinkedIn Accounts for Your Business .

Marketing plan.

A business’ marketing plan describes how it is going to achieve its marketing goals.

TheBalancesmb.com says the following regarding a company’s marketing plan :

“It’s the application of your strategy – a roadmap that will guide you from one point to another.”

Therefore, in marketing, the strategy describes the ‘ what ‘ while the plan describes the ‘ how .’

Unfortunately, many people try to achieve the ‘how’ without first determining what the ‘what’ is.

You should first determine ‘what’ you want to achieve, and then work out ‘how’ you will do it. In other words, your marketing strategy must come before your marketing plan.

Before I decide, for example, whether to travel on foot or horseback, I need to determine where I want to go.

Creating a marketing strategy

NIBUSINESSINFO.CO.UK says that four key elements are crucial for creating a strategy. Below is a list of those elements with an explanation of what they involve:

Segmentation

A company’s current and potential customers fall into specific segments or groups. You need to characterize them according to their needs.

You can identify these groups plus their needs through market reports and market research. As soon as you know what they are, you need to address those needs more effectively than your rivals. You also need to address consumers’ expectations.

Targeting and positioning

You must target the market segments that represent the greatest profits for your business. What your product or service offers must meet the needs and expectations of the target market you have selected.

Your marketing strategy must make the most of your strengths. It must also satisfy the needs and meet the expectations of your target segment.

Promotional tactics

When you have designed your marketing strategy, you need to decide how to make sure your target segment knows about your product or service. You must also tell them why and how your product can meet their needs.

You can do this via advertisements, public relations campaigns, exhibitions, and Internet marketing. Internet marketing means the same as digital marketing, i.e., online marketing .

Monitoring, assessment, and evaluation

You must monitor and evaluate or assess your strategy. It is important. Unfortunately, many people in business skip this part.

Monitoring and evaluation help companies see how well their strategy is performing. It also helps them devise a future marketing strategy. In other words, it has both short- and long-term benefits.

Your strategy comes before your plan

As soon as you have determined what your marketing strategy is, you can draw up a marketing plan. The plan describes how you are going to execute your strategy. It also shows how you will evaluate its effectiveness or success.

John Romero once said:

“In marketing, I’ve seen only one strategy that can’t miss – to market to your best customers first.”

Romero is an America designer, programmer, director, and developer in the video game industry. He co-founded id Software and designed many of their games. He designed the following games:  Doom, Hexen, Dangerous Dave, Wolfenstein 3D , and Quake .

Huge choice of options

When deciding what to include in your marketing strategy, there are dozens of options. Here is a list of some of them:

• Content Marketing: Uses content to attract and convert prospects.
• Inbound Marketing: Attracts customers through various online channels.
• Social Media Marketing: Builds brand and sales through social platforms.
• SEO: Enhances online content for better search engine ranking.
• PPC: Advertisers pay for each ad click.
• Affiliate Marketing: Rewards for referrals or sales.
• Viral Marketing: Spreads product info rapidly online.
• Influencer Marketing: Uses influential figures who have many followers for promotion.
• Direct Marketing: Directly communicates with potential customers.
• Email Marketing: Sends targeted promotional messages.
• Guerrilla Marketing: Unconventional, resourceful promotional methods.
• PR: Manages public information to shape image.
• Word of Mouth: Encourages organic product discussions.
• Relationship Marketing: Nurtures long-term customer loyalty.
• Cause Marketing: Aligns with causes for mutual benefit.
• Event Marketing: Promotes through organized events.

Video – What is a Marketing Strategy?

Watch this interesting video from our sister channel on YouTube – Marketing Business Network . It explains what a ‘Marketing Strategy’ is using simple and easy-to-understand language and examples.

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Plan Projections

ideas to numbers .. simple financial projections

Home > Business Plan > Marketing Strategy in a Business Plan

Marketing Strategy in a Business Plan

… we will get this market share by …

• Product USP : Why buy our product? What characteristics does the product have to meet customer needs?
• Promotion : What marketing activities will be undertaken? What means of communication will the business use to persuade customers of the benefits of the product? Will it use above the line promotion or below the line promotion?
• Place : What are the distribution channels? How is the business going to reach customers with its product?
• Price : What price will the business charge for the product, and what goal is it pursuing with the pricing strategy? Will the business use premium, penetration, economy or skimming pricing strategies.

Marketing Strategy Presentation

The marketing strategy section of the business plan can be presented in four sections relating to each of the four P’s product, promotion, place, and price as shown in the example layout below.

The marketing strategy is a key section of the business plan, at this stage you are not trying to present a complete marketing plan, but simply trying to show the investor that each major section of the marketing strategy has been thought about and that you have a good marketing mix.

All of the four sections should be consistent with and support each other, for example, if you are planning to adopt a high price strategy, then the product would be aimed at an upmarket target customer, distributed at high end stores, and make use of one to one personal selling.

This is part of the financial projections and Contents of a Business Plan Guide , a series of posts on what each section of a simple business plan should include. The next post in this series sets out the business model which the business intends to use to generate revenue.

About the Author

Chartered accountant Michael Brown is the founder and CEO of Plan Projections. He has worked as an accountant and consultant for more than 25 years and has built financial models for all types of industries. He has been the CFO or controller of both small and medium sized companies and has run small businesses of his own. He has been a manager and an auditor with Deloitte, a big 4 accountancy firm, and holds a degree from Loughborough University.

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Marketing Plan

A document that lays out the marketing efforts of a business in an upcoming period

What is a Marketing Plan?

A marketing plan is a document that lays out the marketing efforts of a business in an upcoming period, which is usually a year. It outlines the marketing strategy, promotional, and advertising activities planned for the period.

Elements of a Marketing Plan

A marketing plan will typically include the following elements:

Marketing objectives of the business : The objectives should be attainable and measurable – two goals associated with SMART, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

Current business marketing positioning : An analysis of the current state of the organization concerning its marketing positioning.

Market research : Detailed research about current market trends, customer needs, industry sales volumes, and expected direction.

Outline of the business target market : Business target market demographics.

Marketing activities : A list of any actions concerning marketing goals that are scheduled for the period and the indicated timelines.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) to be tracked

Marketing mix : A combination of factors that may influence customers to purchase products. It should be appropriate for the organization and will largely be centered on the 4Ps of marketing – i.e., product, price, promotion, and place.

Competition : Identify the organization’s competitors and their strategies, along with ways to counter competition and gain market share .

Marketing strategies : The development of marketing strategies to be employed in the coming period. These strategies will include promotional strategies, advertising, and other marketing tools at the disposal of the organization.

Marketing budget : A detailed outline of the organization’s allocation of financial resources to marketing activities. The activities will need to be carried out within the marketing budget .

Monitoring and performance mechanism : A plan should be in place to identify if the marketing tools in place are bearing fruit or need to be revised based on the past, current, and expected future state of the organization, industry, and the overall business environment.

A marketing plan should observe the 80:20 rule – i.e., for maximum impact, it should focus on the 20% of products and services that account for 80% of volumes and the 20% of customers that bring in 80% of revenue.

Purpose of a Marketing Plan

The purpose of a marketing plan includes the following:

• To clearly define the marketing objectives of the business that align with the corporate mission and vision of the organization. The marketing objectives indicate where the organization wishes to be at any specific period in the future.
• The marketing plan usually assists in the growth of the business by stating appropriate marketing strategies, such as plans for increasing the customer base.
• State and review the marketing mix in terms of the 8Ps of marketing – Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process, Physical Evidence, and Performance.
• Strategies to increase market share, enter new niche markets, and increase brand awareness are also encompassed within the marketing plan.
• The marketing plan will contain a detailed budget for the funds and resources required to carry out activities indicated in the marketing plan.
• The assignment of tasks and responsibilities of marketing activities is well enunciated in the marketing plan.
• The identification of business opportunities and any strategies crafted to exploit them is important.
• A marketing plan fosters the review and analysis of the marketing environment, which entails market research, customer needs assessment, competitor analysis, PEST analysis , studying new business trends, and continuous environmental scanning.
• A marketing plan integrates business functions to operate with consistency – notably sales, production, finance, human resources, and marketing.

Structure of a Marketing Plan

The structure of a marketing plan can include the following sections:

Marketing Plan Objectives

This section outlines the expected outcome of the marketing plan with clear, concise, realistic, and attainable objectives. It contains specific targets and time frames.

Metrics, such as target market share, the target number of customers to be attained, penetration rate, usage rate, sales volumes targeted, etc. should be used.

Market Research – Market Analysis/Consumer Analysis

Market analysis includes topics such as market definition, market size, industry structure, market share and trends, and competitor analysis. Consumer analysis includes the target market demographics and what influences their buying decisions – e.g., loyalty, motivation, and expectations.

Target Market

This defines the target customers by their demographic profile, such as gender, race, age, and psychographic profile, such as their interests. This will assist in the correct marketing mix for the target market segments.

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis will look at the organization’s internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats. SWOT analysis includes the following:

• Strengths are the organization’s competitive advantages that are not easily duplicated. They represent the skills, expertise, and efficiencies that an organization possesses over its competitors.
• Weaknesses are impediments found in the operations of an organization, and they stifle growth. These can include outdated machinery, inadequate working capital, and inefficient production methods.
• Opportunities are prospects for growth in the business through the adoption of ways to take advantage of the chances. They could include entry into new markets, adopting digital marketing strategies, or following new trends.
• Threats are external factors that can affect the business negatively, such as a new powerful competitor, legislative changes, natural disasters, or political situations.

Marketing Strategy

The marketing strategy section covers actual strategies to be included according to the marketing mix. The strategy centers on the 8Ps of marketing. However, firms are also at liberty to use the traditional 4 P’s of marketing – product, price, place, and promotion. The 8 P’s are illustrated below.

The correct marketing mix is determined by the target market. The most expensive options are advertising, sales promotions, and PR campaigns. Networking and referrals are less costly.

Marketers also need to pay attention to digital marketing strategies that make use of technology to reach a wider market and have also proven to be cost-effective.

Digital marketing channels, which became popular in the early 21 st century, may eventually overtake traditional marketing methods. Digital marketing encompasses trending methods, such as the use of social media for business.

Other strategies within the marketing strategy include pricing and positioning strategy, distribution strategy, conversion strategy, and retention strategy.

Marketing Budget

The marketing budget or projection outlines the budgeted expenditure for the marketing activities documented in the marketing plan. The marketing budget consists of revenues and costs stated in the marketing plan in one document.

It balances expenditures on marketing activities and what the organization can afford. It’s a financial plan of marketing activities to be carried out – e.g., promotional activities, cost of marketing materials and advertising, and so on. Other considerations include expected product volume and price, production and delivery costs, and operating and financing costs.

The effectiveness of the marketing plan depends on the budget allocated for marketing expenditure. The cost of marketing should be able to make the company break even and make profits.

Performance Analysis

Performance analysis aims to look at the variances of metrics or components documented in the marketing plan.  These include:

Revenue variance analysis : An analysis of positive or negative variance of revenue. A negative variance is worrisome, and reasons should be available to explain the cause of deviations.

Market share analysis : An analysis of whether the organization attained its target market share. Sales may be increasing whilst the organization’s share of the market is decreasing; hence, it is paramount to track this metric.

Expense analysis : An analysis of marketing expense to sales ratio . This ratio needs to be compared to industry standards to make informed comparisons.

The ratio enables the organization to track actual expenditures versus the budget. It is also compared to other metrics, such as revenue analysis and market share analysis. It can be dissected into individual expenditures to sales to get a clearer picture.

Administration of a Marketing Plan

The marketing plan should be revised and adapted to changes in the environment periodically. The use of metrics, budgets, and schedules to measure progress towards the goals set in the marketing plan is a continuous process by marketing personnel.

There should be a continuous assessment to verify that the goals of the marketing plan are being achieved. The marketing manager should be able to review if the strategies documented are being effective, given the operating environment.

It is irrational for the marketing manager to notice anomalies and wait to review at year-end when the situation might have already deteriorated.

Changes in the environment may necessitate a review of plans, projections, strategies, and targets. Therefore, a formal periodical review – such as monthly or quarterly – may need to be in place. This may mean preparing an annual marketing plan but reviewing the plan quarterly to keep targets and plans aligned closely to environmental changes. It goes without saying that plans are as good as their feasibility to succeed in the given environment.

More Resources

Thank you for reading CFI’s guide to Marketing Plan. To keep learning and advancing your career, the additional CFI resources below will be useful:

• 4 P’s of Marketing
• Market Research
• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
• Competitive Advantage
• See all management & strategy resources
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Market research and competitive analysis

Use market research to find customers.

Market research blends consumer behavior and economic trends to confirm and improve your business idea.

It’s crucial to understand your consumer base from the outset. Market research lets you reduce risks even while your business is still just a gleam in your eye.

Gather demographic information to better understand opportunities and limitations for gaining customers. This could include population data on age, wealth, family, interests, or anything else that’s relevant for your business.

Then answer the following questions to get a good sense of your market:

• Demand:  Is there a desire for your product or service?
• Market size :  How many people would be interested in your offering?
• Economic indicators:  What is the income range and employment rate?
• Location:  Where do your customers live and where can your business reach?
• Market saturation:  How many similar options are already available to consumers?
• Pricing:  What do potential customers pay for these alternatives?

You’ll also want to keep up with the latest small business trends. It’s important to gain a sense of the specific market share that will impact your profits.

You can do market research using existing sources, or you can do the research yourself and go direct to consumers.

Existing sources can save you a lot of time and energy, but the information might not be as specific to your audience as you’d like. Use it to answer questions that are both general and quantifiable, like industry trends, demographics, and household incomes. Check online or start with our  list of market research resources .

Asking consumers yourself can give you a nuanced understanding of your specific target audience. But, direct research can be time consuming and expensive. Use it to answer questions about your specific business or customers, like reactions to your logo, improvements you could make to buying experience, and where customers might go instead of your business.

Here are a few methods you can use to do direct research:

• Questionnaires
• Focus groups
• In-depth interviews

For guidance on deciding which methods are worthwhile for your small business, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) provides counseling services through our  resource partner network .

Use competitive analysis to find a market advantage

Competitive analysis helps you learn from businesses competing for your potential customers. This is key to defining a competitive edge that creates sustainable revenue.

Your competitive analysis should identify your competition by product line or service and market segment. Assess the following characteristics of the competitive landscape:

• Market share
• Strengths and weaknesses
• Your window of opportunity to enter the market
• The importance of your target market to your competitors
• Any barriers that may hinder you as you enter the market
• Indirect or secondary competitors who may impact your success

Several industries might be competing to serve the same market you’re targeting. The Department of Justice provides a diagram of Porter’s Five Forces  as one way you can differentiate your competitive analysis by industry. Important factors to consider include level of competition, threat of new competitors or services, and the effect of suppliers and customers on price.

Free small business data and trends

There are many reliable sources that provide customer and market information at no cost. Free statistics are readily available to help prospective small business owners.

Consider the following federal business statistics in your market research and competitive analysis:

Need help? Get free business counseling

What is business growth? 4 simple ways to develop your business

9-minute read

Conor Shilling

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Regardless of the size of your business, you’ll always be looking for ways to grow and develop it. But depending on where you are in your journey, it might not be clear how you can take your business to the next level.

In our simple guide to business growth, we’ll share tips on how to grow your business at every stage of its development. As well as ways you can plan and measure your business as it scales.

In this guide, we’ll cover the following:

• What is business growth?

What are the five stages of business growth?

Four ways to grow your business, how to measure business growth.

• Developing a business growth plan

Business growth grants

• How to develop a growth mindset

What is growth in a business?

Developing a business can be achieved in a range of ways – from expanding your team or increasing sales figures, to  launching new products  or moving to new premises.

Organic growth  is when your business expands without making radical changes. We’ll talk about this in more detail later.

Why is business growth important?

Growth businesses are in a strong position to attract the best talent, appeal to investors, and innovate to take advantage of new opportunities.

And with a focus on small business growth, you’ll be quick to identify what’s not working and how to improve your operations. Whether that’s improving customer retention or evolving your products, with the right strategy you could boost your profits and  ROI .

When reading about business development, you’ll often come across the stages of growth. These stages outline the life cycle of a business so it’s important to know which stage your business is in.

We’ve put together an overview of the main stages below. It’s important to note that you’ll often see the stages described in slightly different ways with different names.

First, you should decide on the kind of growth that suits your business.

Organic growth

This type of growth is usually defined by internal changes in strategy. Typically, it’s achieved by only using resources from within your business, like increasing production for example.

A huge benefit of organic growth is that it’s self-sufficient and in theory should be a stable method of growing your business. This makes it the most suitable type of growth for small businesses in the early stages of their development because it’s the most cost-effective.

But it’s probably the most difficult type of growth because it’s harder to grow your business rapidly.

Some of the things you can do to keep your business growing organically are:

• diversifying your offering by introducing new products that connect with a new customer base
• developing your product or service so you keep your existing customers engaged
• evolving your advertising to attract new customers – whether that’s trying something new on social media, or exploring a different marketing channel

Strategic growth

Much like organic growth, strategic growth is a long-term method of expanding your business. The two main differences are what you change and how you fund it.

Strategic growth is usually funded with extra budget to build on your business’s regular strategy. And what you choose to focus on is a shift in strategy.

It can be targeting a new audience, or investing more into a new marketing channel – it’s about doing something different to  grow your business in new areas .

Typically, more mature businesses will take this approach once they struggle to grow organically. This is for when a business is looking to expand.

Internal growth

Internal growth is about optimising your processes and improving efficiency – essentially, making your business operations ‘leaner’. This means you’ll look to cut any unnecessary spending and reduce waste as much as possible to maximise profit.

It’s difficult to rapidly develop your business just through internal growth, but when it’s combined with organic or strategic initiatives, it can help boost the development of your business.

This is most common for mature businesses but small business owners can still use some of the techniques, such as:

• keeping your business expensing as low as possible
• being efficient with your workspace and only having what you need
• assessing what you can do yourself and what you may need to outsource

Growth from external funding

Seeking funds from outside your business is one of the simplest ways to grow your business as it’s extra investment on top of what you already make. This will usually be in the form of investment, a strategic partnership, or an acquisition.

Something to consider with external funding is that you’re usually giving something in return, whether that’s a percentage of your business or profits – external funding usually comes at a cost.

This suits businesses of all stages of their development – but if you’re a business in the launch phase, you’ll probably need to show some track record of organic growth for someone to invest.

In our guide to  business funding , we go into detail about how small business owners can get access to funding and investment opportunities – and which ones might suit you.

Once you’ve settled on how you’d like to grow your business, you’ll need to choose what your specific growth goals are.

Growing your customer base

Broadening the reach of your business to engage with new customers is a great way to grow your company. You’ll measure your success by how many new customers you acquire.

This could be email addresses,  followers on social media , or an  increase in foot traffic . The main thing is that you’ll be paying attention to the number of customers engaging with your business, rather than the amount of money you’re making.

Increasing revenue

Finding ways to make more money is important for every business. Here, you’ll pay attention to your  cashflow forecast ,  turnover , and sales to see how your business is growing.

Do you need a business growth plan?

A business growth plan is similar to a  business plan . The main difference is that it covers a shorter period of time, usually one to two years, rather than three to five years.

So, how do you start business development planning? Firstly, you’ll need to assess what stage your business is currently in (see below) and monitor performance. A good way to do this is by completing a  SWOT analysis , which is a deep dive into your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

It’s also a good idea to set out your business’s  USPs  – what makes you stand out from your competitors?

Next, you’ll need to create a plan for how you want your business to grow and identify the  company goals  that’ll help you reach the next stage.

What to include in a growth plan

It’s important to break your growth plan down into sections, with clear objectives you want to achieve. Here are some of the key areas covered in most growth plans:

• growth strategies  – which growth strategies are you going to use to reach your objectives? Are you looking to partner with other companies, or diversify your service?
• marketing  – how many customers do you want and what marketing techniques are you going to use to reach them? Read our  marketing guide for small businesses  for some top tips
• operations  – do you need to move to new business premises? Are there new suppliers you need to work with to reach your growth goals?
• people  – does your business need more staff to grow quickly? Outlining the staff structure of your company and making sure the right people are in the right roles is key to future success. As your business grows,  creating an organisation chart  can help you to outline the hierarchy and structure of your company

It’s also worthwhile to include an overview of your financial information, such as accounts,  profit/loss forecasts , and a cashflow forecast.

A business growth grant is a cash injection that doesn’t need to be paid back.

In the UK, there are a range of growth grants available for small businesses, as well as grants for young business people, and businesses that take on apprentices.

Read our guide to small business grants for everything you need to know.

If you’re looking for another type of investment, read the following guides to get started:

• angel investment
• crowdfunding
• venture capital

How does the Business growth fund work?

The Business Growth Fund invests in small and medium-sized businesses across the UK and Ireland. It was set up in 2011 by a range of banks, including Lloyds, Barclays, and HSBC.

The fund has invested more than £2.5 billion in around 300 companies. It usually becomes a minority, non-controlling stakeholder in the businesses it invests in.

What is a growth mindset in business?

Growth mindset is an academic term that has become popular in business. It’s a belief that either your professional skills, or your business itself, can be improved through hard work and dedication.

It’s the opposite of a ‘fixed’ mindset, where you believe your business is limited by the skills and talents your employees already have.

The aim of having a growth mindset is that by focusing on learning and development, a business can thrive through innovation and new ideas.

However, declaring that your business or employees have a growth mindset won’t have an impact. You’ll need to be committed to changing the way your business operates from top to bottom.

Here are some of the qualities of a growth mindset in business:

• making sure everyone is accountable
• focusing on the purpose of your business
• prioritising learning and research
• learning not to dwell on failures and mistakes
• working towards long-term goals

Read more guides on developing a strategy for growth in business:

• How to create a small business customer retention strategy
• How to write a vision statement
• How to start a business
• How to find a gap in the market

What are your top tips for developing a business? Let us know in the comments below.

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Photograph: fizkes/stock.adobe.com

Conor Shilling is a professional writer with over 10 years’ experience across the property, small business, and insurance sectors. A trained journalist, Conor’s previous experience includes writing for several leading online property trade publications. Conor has worked at Simply Business as a Copywriter for three years, specialising in the buy-to-let market, landlords, and small business finance.

This content is for general, informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal, tax, accounting, or financial advice. Please obtain expert advice from industry-specific professionals who may better understand your business’s needs.  Read our full disclaimer

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Best Places to Work in Chicago 2024

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Illinois’ economic development strategy is future-ready

In August, Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) released Open for Business: Illinois’ 2024 Economic Growth Plan . This five-year roadmap outlines the state’s economic development priorities and programming for the coming years, plus Illinois’ advantages as a business destination.

As Chairman of Intersect Illinois , the state’s public-private business attraction organization, I know that this report embodies what companies want to see most when considering an expansion or relocation: strategic vision, genuine coordination and a commitment from the top down to advocate for Illinois businesses. Though the full report offers a wealth of detail and insights, these three key takeaways demonstrate why Illinois is the place to be — for businesses and residents alike.

The groundwork for accelerated growth has been laid 

As Gov. Pritzker notes in his opening letter, Illinois’ business climate today hardly resembles that of years past. A key component of that is the Governor’s leadership in getting the state’s fiscal house in order, including eliminating all short-term debts, receiving nine credit rating upgrades in a row and operating under our fifth balanced budget with consistent surpluses. By prioritizing and improving the state’s foundational economic health, we are free to prioritize growth, expansion and innovation in ways we couldn’t before.

That’s where Team Illinois comes in. The unified efforts of Team Illinois — consisting of the Governor’s administration, DCEO, Intersect Illinois and our network of partners across the state — have been instrumental in building relationships, providing resources and offering “white glove” service to companies both stateside and across the world. By working in lockstep to aggressively pursue new business, more companies than ever are beginning to understand how our advantages in infrastructure, education and workforce make this the place to be.

Plus, in listening to the needs of our business community, Team Illinois has strategically optimized tax incentive programs that make it more beneficial to call Illinois home.

Workforce is key

Underlining the economic development goals, priorities and strategies in the plan is a firm commitment to uplifting Illinois’ people and families. With a skilled workforce of over 6 million people, an astounding 244 higher education institutions and the third largest community college system in the nation, Illinois’ workforce is a huge asset that will only be made stronger through continued support of education and training initiatives that equip them for in-demand occupations in growing industries.

We’re already seeing positive results from recent efforts to increase grants, refocus on career and technical education (CTE) and develop innovative approaches to reach students and workers, several of which are contained in this plan. CTE programs are actively preparing Illinoisans for high-demand careers in a variety of fields and present opportunities for local businesses to partner with schools in their community to train students for jobs that will be available to them upon graduation. Apprenticeship programs are a win-win, offering specialized training to workers and up to $5,000 in tax credits for businesses per apprentice they employ. And programs like the Film and TV Workforce Training Program help ensure we’re meeting the moment by offering training tailored to industries that are beginning to flourish here in our state.

Between these combined efforts, the pipeline of talent in Illinois will continue to grow to keep pace with the state’s positive economic development momentum.

Illinois’ economic development strategy is future-ready 

The plan lays out six sectors of focus for Illinois, which include life sciences; quantum computing , AI and microelectronics; clean energy production and manufacturing; advanced manufacturing; next generation agriculture, agriculture tech and food processing; and transportation, distribution and logistics.

Why these six? They align with the advantages our state already has — across institutions, businesses and workforce — and the goals for growth we’re pursuing. While the report goes into more detail about each sector listed here, it’s clear that Illinois’ combination of strategic location, reliable clean energy and site readiness make it attractive to businesses of the future that have the potential to transform our state’s economy and spur remarkable job growth.

As we forge ahead, Team Illinois remains laser focused on driving this plan in every market and community across the state to build upon our strengths, our pipeline of projects and our next chapter as an economic development powerhouse. Intersect Illinois’ own annual report is set to be released by the end of September, marking another key milestone and platform for sharing the continued progress of our state’s collaborative economic development ecosystem. It’s a great time to be in Illinois.

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What Are Nine Strategies To Effectively Promote And Advertise A Candle Making Business?

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Promoting a candle-making business can be a daunting task, but with the right strategies, you can drive significant growth. According to a recent industry report, over 70% of candle businesses saw a 20% increase in sales by implementing a comprehensive marketing plan. By leveraging a mix of online and offline tactics, such as social media, email campaigns, and targeted advertising, entrepreneurs can effectively reach their target audience and stand out in the competitive candle market. In this article, we'll explore 9 proven strategies to help your candle-making business thrive.

• Establish an engaging online presence
• Leverage social media to connect with target audience
• Collaborate with local businesses for cross-promotion
• Participate in relevant trade shows and craft fairs
• Offer unique, personalized candle-making workshops
• Utilize email marketing to showcase new products
• Develop a loyalty program to retain customers
• Leverage influencer marketing to reach new segments
• Optimize search visibility through strategic keywords

Establish a Strong Online Presence with a Captivating Website

In the dynamic world of candle making, establishing a robust online presence is a crucial step in effectively promoting and advertising your business. As Lumière Essence, a customizable candle making company focused on eco-friendly practices and wellness, your online presence can be the key to unlocking a world of opportunities and reaching your target audience.

A captivating website is the foundation of your online strategy, serving as a digital showroom and a hub for your brand's identity. By investing in a visually appealing, user-friendly, and information-rich website, you can effectively showcase your unique product line , highlight your commitment to sustainability, and connect with health-conscious consumers seeking tranquility and personal expression.

• Ensure your website is mobile-responsive, as 57% of online traffic now comes from mobile devices.
• Optimize your website for search engine visibility , as 75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results.
• Incorporate high-quality product images, detailed descriptions, and engaging content to captivate your visitors.

Beyond your website, a strong online presence also encompasses strategic social media engagement. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest can serve as powerful channels to showcase your candle designs, share behind-the-scenes content, and engage with your audience. By leveraging the visual nature of these platforms, you can effectively communicate the essence of your brand and build a loyal following .

• Develop a consistent visual identity and branding across all your social media channels.
• Utilize relevant hashtags to increase the visibility of your content and reach potential customers.
• Encourage user-generated content by running contests and giveaways to foster engagement and loyalty.

Furthermore, incorporating email marketing into your promotional strategy can be a powerful tool to nurture your customer relationships and drive sales. By building an email list of interested individuals, you can share updates, exclusive offers, and personalized content that resonates with your audience. Careful segmentation and targeted messaging can result in higher open and click-through rates , ultimately leading to increased conversions and repeat business.

• Offer an incentive, such as a discount or a free gift, to encourage sign-ups for your email list.
• Segment your email list based on customer preferences and behavior to deliver more personalized content.
• Experiment with different subject lines, content formats, and calls-to-action to optimize your email campaigns.

By strategically leveraging your online presence, Lumière Essence can effectively promote and advertise its candle making business, reaching a wider audience and fostering meaningful connections with health-conscious consumers seeking personalized and sustainable solutions for their living and work spaces.

Leverage Social Media Platforms to Engage with Target Audience

In the dynamic world of candle making, effectively promoting and advertising your business is crucial for success. One of the most powerful strategies to achieve this is leveraging social media platforms to engage with your target audience. By creating a strong online presence and fostering meaningful connections, you can amplify the visibility of your Lumière Essence brand and drive increased sales.

Social media platforms, such as Instagram , Facebook , and Pinterest , offer candle makers a unique opportunity to showcase their products, share their brand story, and connect with potential customers. According to a recent study, 79% of consumers have discovered a new product or brand through social media, making it an invaluable tool for candle businesses like Lumière Essence.

• Develop a cohesive visual identity across all social media channels to enhance brand recognition.
• Leverage user-generated content (UGC) by encouraging customers to share photos of your candles in their homes, creating a sense of community and authenticity.
• Utilize Instagram's features, such as Stories, Reels, and Shoppable posts, to showcase your products in a visually appealing and interactive manner.

Another effective strategy is to leverage the power of influencer marketing . By partnering with relevant influencers who align with your brand's values and target audience, you can tap into their established followings and gain credibility. In fact, 71% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase based on a social media referral. Carefully select influencers who can authentically promote your candle products, creating a mutually beneficial relationship that drives sales and brand awareness.

Additionally, consider implementing targeted social media advertising campaigns to reach and engage your ideal customers. By leveraging the advanced targeting capabilities of platforms like Facebook and Instagram, you can create highly personalized ads that resonate with your target audience. According to a recent industry report, 60% of small businesses have found social media advertising to be effective in boosting their sales.

• Experiment with different ad formats, such as carousel ads, video ads, and dynamic product ads, to determine what resonates best with your audience.
• Regularly analyze the performance of your social media campaigns and adjust your targeting, messaging, and creative elements to optimize for better results.
• Leverage the robust analytics and reporting tools offered by social media platforms to gain insights into your audience's behavior and preferences.

By leveraging the power of social media platforms, Lumière Essence can effectively promote and advertise its candle making business, engage with its target audience, and drive meaningful growth. By implementing these strategies, the company can amplify its brand visibility, foster deeper connections with customers, and ultimately, increase its sales and profitability.

Collaborate with Local Businesses for Cross-Promotional Opportunities

Building strategic partnerships with complementary local businesses can be a highly effective way to promote and advertise your candle making business, Lumière Essence . By collaborating with compatible enterprises, you can tap into new customer bases, enhance your brand visibility, and create mutually beneficial marketing campaigns.

One powerful approach is to identify local businesses that share a similar target audience or align with your brand's ethos of sustainability and wellness. For example, you could partner with a yoga studio, a natural health food store, or a home decor boutique to cross-promote your candle products. This not only expands your reach but also allows you to leverage the trust and loyalty that these businesses have already established with their customers.

• Seek out local businesses that cater to health-conscious, eco-friendly, or design-oriented consumers, as these are likely to resonate with your candle brand's positioning.
• Offer to host in-store product demonstrations, workshops, or trunk shows at your partner businesses to drive foot traffic and product awareness.
• Collaborate on co-branded marketing materials, such as social media content, email newsletters, or joint promotional events, to amplify your reach and credibility.

Another effective strategy is to participate in local community events, such as farmers' markets, artisan fairs, or wellness expos. These platforms not only allow you to directly engage with potential customers but also enable you to forge connections with other small businesses in your area. By showcasing your candle products and sharing your brand story, you can create a lasting impression and foster valuable networking opportunities.

According to a recent study, 87% of consumers are more likely to support a local business that collaborates with other community-based enterprises. By leveraging these cross-promotional partnerships, you can tap into this sentiment and position Lumière Essence as an integral part of the local ecosystem, further enhancing your brand's appeal and recognition.

Participate in Relevant Trade Shows and Craft Fairs

Participating in relevant trade shows and craft fairs is a powerful strategy to effectively promote and advertise a candle making business like Lumière Essence. These events offer a unique opportunity to directly engage with your target audience, showcase your products, and build valuable connections within the industry.

According to a recent study by the Center for Exhibition Industry Research, 86% of trade show attendees are interested in discovering new products and services, making these events an excellent platform to introduce your customizable candle offerings to potential customers.

• Research and identify the most relevant trade shows and craft fairs for your candle making business. Look for events that cater to your target market, such as home decor, wellness, or eco-conscious consumers.
• Invest in a visually appealing and engaging booth design that showcases your brand and products in the best light. Utilize eye-catching displays, product samples, and interactive elements to draw in attendees.
• Prepare a compelling pitch that highlights the unique features and benefits of your customizable candle products, such as their eco-friendly materials, wellness-focused scents, and personalization options.

Participating in these events can also provide valuable networking opportunities. 73% of trade show attendees are decision-makers or have significant influence on purchasing decisions, allowing you to connect with potential wholesale clients, retail partners, and industry influencers.

Furthermore, a study by the Event Marketing Institute found that 82% of trade show attendees have a more positive image of companies that exhibit at these events. By actively participating in relevant trade shows and craft fairs, Lumière Essence can enhance its brand visibility, credibility, and ultimately, drive sales for its customizable candle products.

Offer Unique, Personalized Candle-Making Workshops and Classes

At Lumière Essence, we understand that the key to effectively promoting and advertising a candle making business lies in offering unique, personalized experiences that cater to the evolving needs and preferences of modern consumers. By providing captivating candle-making workshops and classes, you can not only showcase your expertise and creativity but also foster a deeper connection with your target audience.

According to a recent industry report, 78% of consumers are more likely to engage with a brand that offers personalized experiences. By tapping into this trend, Lumière Essence has been able to differentiate itself in the highly competitive candle market and attract a loyal following of customers seeking a truly customized and enriching candle-making journey.

• Offer a range of themed workshops, such as 'Mindfulness Candle Making' or 'Holiday Scent Blending,' to cater to various customer interests and occasions.
• Provide one-on-one or small group classes where customers can learn the art of candle making and create their own unique designs.
• Collaborate with local artisans, wellness experts, or influencers to host special workshops that blend candle making with complementary experiences, such as aromatherapy or sustainable living.

By investing in these personalized experiences, Lumière Essence has been able to not only drive a 35% increase in customer engagement but also secure a 25% boost in repeat business from customers who have participated in their workshops and classes. This strategic focus on unique, hands-on experiences has proven to be a powerful tool in effectively promoting and advertising the Lumière Essence brand, setting it apart from the competition and fostering a loyal community of candle enthusiasts.

Furthermore, the personalized nature of these workshops and classes has enabled Lumière Essence to gather valuable insights into the preferences and pain points of its customers, allowing the business to continuously refine its product offerings and marketing strategies to better meet their evolving needs.

Utilize Email Marketing to Showcase New Products and Promotions

In the competitive world of the candle making business, effective promotion and advertising strategies are crucial for standing out and driving sales. One powerful tactic that Lumière Essence can leverage is the power of email marketing. By utilizing email marketing, the company can showcase its latest product offerings and highlight compelling promotions to its subscriber base, ultimately boosting brand awareness and driving conversions.

According to a recent study, email marketing has an average ROI of $42 for every $1 spent , making it one of the most cost-effective marketing channels. Additionally, 77% of consumers prefer to receive promotional content through email , indicating a strong preference for this medium among Lumière Essence's target audience.

• Segment your email list to deliver personalized content that resonates with different customer personas.
• Leverage eye-catching visuals and captivating copy to showcase your latest candle collections and limited-time offers.
• Experiment with various email types, such as new product announcements, seasonal promotions, and educational content, to keep your audience engaged.

By consistently sending out well-crafted email campaigns, Lumière Essence can effectively reach its audience, build brand loyalty, and drive sales. In fact, email marketing is responsible for generating up to 30% of total revenue for small businesses , making it a crucial component of a comprehensive marketing strategy.

To further enhance the impact of email marketing, Lumière Essence can leverage customer data to personalize the content and offers, ensuring a more tailored and relevant experience for each subscriber. This approach can lead to higher open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates , ultimately contributing to the overall success of the candle making business.

Develop a Loyalty Program to Incentivize Repeat Customers

In the competitive landscape of the candle making business, developing a loyalty program can be a powerful strategy to incentivize repeat customers and foster long-term brand loyalty. By rewarding your most dedicated customers, you can not only increase their lifetime value but also encourage positive word-of-mouth and attract new customers to your Lumière Essence brand.

One effective approach is to implement a points-based loyalty program, where customers earn rewards for every purchase they make or other actions they take, such as leaving a review or sharing your products on social media. These points can then be redeemed for discounts, free products, or exclusive experiences, creating a sense of value and appreciation for your most loyal patrons.

• Offer a sign-up bonus, such as a free candle or a discount on their first purchase, to incentivize customers to join your loyalty program.
• Consider tiered levels within your loyalty program, where customers can achieve higher status and unlock greater rewards as they continue to support your business.
• Leverage email marketing and push notifications to keep your loyal customers informed about the latest promotions, new product launches, and exclusive offers available through your loyalty program.

According to a study by Accenture , 71% of consumers expressed a preference for brands that personalize their experiences and offers. By tailoring your loyalty program to the specific needs and preferences of your Lumière Essence customers, you can create a more engaging and rewarding experience that fosters a sense of belonging and encourages repeat business.

Additionally, research from Harvard Business Review has shown that increasing customer retention rates by just 5% can lead to a profit increase of 25% to 95% . By implementing an effective loyalty program, you can capitalize on this opportunity and drive sustainable growth for your candle making business.

Leverage Influencer Marketing to Reach New Customer Segments

In the competitive world of candle making, standing out from the crowd is crucial. One powerful strategy that Lumière Essence can leverage to effectively promote and advertise its business is influencer marketing. By collaborating with influential individuals who align with the brand's values and target audience, Lumière Essence can tap into new customer segments and amplify its reach.

Influencer marketing has proven to be a highly effective tactic for businesses across various industries. According to a recent study, 71% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase based on a social media referral. When it comes to candle making, influencers can showcase the unique features, personalization options, and eco-friendly benefits of Lumière Essence's products, ultimately driving increased brand awareness and sales.

• Identify relevant micro-influencers within the wellness, home decor, and sustainability spaces to partner with. These influencers often have a highly engaged and loyal following, making them valuable allies in reaching your target audience.
• Leverage the power of user-generated content (UGC) by encouraging influencers and customers to share their experiences with Lumière Essence's candles on social media. This can help build social proof and increase the authenticity of your brand's messaging.
• Collaborate with influencers to create exclusive content, such as product tutorials, behind-the-scenes videos, or custom-designed candles, to further showcase the versatility and quality of your offerings.

By incorporating influencer marketing into your overall promotional strategy, Lumière Essence can tap into new customer segments, increase brand awareness, and ultimately drive more sales. With the right influencer partnerships and a focus on creating engaging, authentic content, your candle making business can reach new heights.

Moreover, leveraging influencer marketing can also provide valuable insights into your target audience's preferences, pain points, and purchasing behaviors. By closely monitoring the performance of your influencer campaigns, you can refine your marketing strategies and make data-driven decisions to better serve your customers.

In the ever-evolving landscape of the candle making industry, staying ahead of the curve is essential. By embracing the power of influencer marketing, Lumière Essence can position itself as a trusted and innovative brand, ultimately driving long-term success and growth.

Optimize Search Engine Visibility Through Strategic Keywords and Content

In the competitive world of candle making, optimizing search engine visibility through strategic keywords and content is a crucial component of effectively promoting and advertising your business, Lumière Essence. By leveraging the power of search engine optimization (SEO), you can ensure that your customizable, eco-friendly, and wellness-focused candle offerings are easily discovered by your target audience.

To enhance your online presence and drive more traffic to your Lumière Essence website, consider the following strategies:

• Conduct Thorough Keyword Research : Identify the primary, secondary, LSI, long-tail, and supporting keywords that your potential customers are likely to use when searching for candle making businesses, products, and services. Incorporate these keywords seamlessly into your website content, product descriptions, and meta tags to improve your search engine rankings.
• Create Compelling and Informative Content : Develop a content marketing strategy that focuses on educating and engaging your audience. Publish blog posts, tutorials, and guides that address the pain points and interests of your target customers, such as the health benefits of using eco-friendly candles or the art of personalized candle making.
• Optimize Your Website Structure and Navigation : Ensure that your Lumière Essence website is user-friendly and easy to navigate, with clear calls-to-action and intuitive product categories. This will not only improve the user experience but also signal to search engines that your site is well-organized and relevant to your customers' needs.
• Leverage Local SEO Tactics : If your candle making business has a physical storefront or caters to a specific geographic region, optimize your local SEO by claiming and optimizing your Google My Business listing, creating localized content, and building citations on relevant directories and review sites.
• Utilize Video and Visual Content : Leverage the power of visual content, such as product demonstration videos, behind-the-scenes footage, and high-quality images, to showcase the craftsmanship and unique features of your Lumière Essence candles. This type of content can help improve your search engine visibility and engage your audience more effectively.
• Regularly review and update your keyword strategy to stay ahead of industry trends and changes in consumer search behavior.
• Collaborate with industry influencers and bloggers to create content that showcases your Lumière Essence candles and reaches a wider audience.
• Consider investing in paid advertising, such as search engine marketing (SEM) or social media ads, to complement your organic SEO efforts and reach new customers more quickly.

By implementing these strategies and continuously optimizing your online presence, you can significantly improve the search engine visibility of your Lumière Essence candle making business, attracting more potential customers and driving sales growth. According to a recent industry report, businesses that prioritize SEO and content marketing can see an average increase of 40% in website traffic and a 20% boost in lead generation within the first year of implementation.

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Master YouTube Marketing: Strategies And Tips For Instant Growth

What Is YouTube Marketing?

YouTube marketing is the process of promoting your content and brand on the popular video-sharing platform. Building a powerful YouTube marketing strategy and implementing smart marketing tips sets you apart from the competition and helps you become an influencer . Typically, businesses enforce a mix of organic and paid promotions, including uploading optimized content and paying for ads. 70% of consumers admit that they bought something after seeing an ad on YouTube. However, similar to Google, YouTube is a search engine as well, meaning that you have to optimize your content so audiences can discover it. No matter how great it is, no one will notice it unless you start adding powerful keywords. But how do you get more subscribers for your YouTube channel ? This is the tricky part everyone struggles with. Keep reading to discover invaluable growth tips that will propel your business to new heights.

Why Is YouTube Marketing Important?

Boosts traffic.

YouTube is available in 100+ countries and 80 different languages. This means that building a YouTube marketing strategy brings you closer to international audiences. Whether you publish original content or leverage YouTube advertising, being active on the platform helps you generate new leads . That is if you cater to people's needs and create content that resonates with them. Don't assume that you know what your audience wants and needs, but instead do thorough research. Additionally, collaborating with influential YouTube figures allows you to expand your reach significantly and get their stamp of approval. Remember that most influencers have loyal viewers who trust their word more than anything.

Google Visibility

Creating a YouTube channel is an essential marketing tip, similar to adding your company details on Google. You may have noticed that videos appear on Google searches, meaning that this media form is more popular than ever. So, you can embed your videos in your articles and add links to your blog posts in the description of your YouTube videos. You may also ask other websites to feature your videos, which, if done correctly, will boost your ranking in SERPs and help your website appear higher in organic searches. Ultimately, these practices will not only increase brand visibility but also accelerate business growth .

Increases Conversions

A powerful social media strategy that includes YouTube marketing means that your B2B content marketing reaches large audiences and attracts more leads. In fact, many marketers claim that their sales have increased after implementing their marketing tips on YouTube. This can be attributed to many reasons. Firstly, videos are more engaging than articles and allow you to build further trust and credibility. Also, you can showcase how your product operates and help B2B customers solve their pain points. Lastly, you can increase your lead generation thanks to webinar promos and online course trailers by adding links leading to your landing pages, encouraging the audience to sign up and stay updated.

Build An Email List

How can YouTube marketing strategies help you build your email list? It may not be widely known, but there is software that allows you to embed your signup form within your videos. As viewers watch your video, a signup window pops up. People can add their personal details there and subscribe to your link for upcoming events. Thanks to this smart email marketing solution , potential clients don't need to click on other links and get redirected to your website. To boost your signups on YouTube, you may implement lead generation techniques , including lead magnets, annotations, and paid ads. If you don't want to use special software, you can simply add a lead magnet at the top right side of your videos and let people click it if they want.

Brand Awareness

One of the top priorities and benefits of YouTube marketing strategies is enhanced brand awareness. Statistics show that 90% of people worldwide are introduced to new products and companies on the platform. This means that creating and publishing content is a powerful B2B marketing tactic for gaining loyal customers. For example, creating how-to guides, tutorials, and demos allows people to experience your product and understand how it can help them. Staying consistent with your branding and voice is crucial to retaining your popularity.

10 Steps To Create The Best YouTube Marketing Strategy

1. brand your channel.

Your YouTube channel is like your company's showcase room. You need it to be representative of your brand image, character, and uniqueness. So, the channel's name should be consistent with your company name and overall color scheme. Add the same profile picture you have across all online channels, include an accurate description of your services, and share your social media links, including your main website. Additionally, you must brand all your thumbnails, descriptions, and video titles. Even if you optimize your titles for SEO purposes, make sure you are still on-brand. Don't forget to add a banner image, too. If you don't have one ready, you may use free online tools like Canva to create one based on their wide range of templates.

2. Learn Your Audience's Preferences

Your YouTube marketing strategy should focus on identifying your target audience and their interests. Do you know who you're making videos for and what they like watching? Once you conduct customer profiling , you'll be able to answer those two questions. YouTube analytics show you how many loyal and new viewers you have and what types of videos each one watches. Therefore, you can understand their preferences and improve your content accordingly. Moreover, analytics provide you with essential demographics, like age and location. Based on this data, you can arrange publishing times. For example, if your YouTube target audience is largely from the United Kingdom but your company is based in the United States, you may start publishing your videos according to their time zone.

3. Study Your Competition

Our list of YouTube marketing tips wouldn't be enough without this one. Your YouTube content strategy should focus on identifying your competitors, their audience's characteristics, and their most successful content. Check their following and how fast they're growing their subscribers. Analyze their successful videos and how their engaged audience members interact. Do they press the like button and leave comments? And how are these channels engaging with their audience? Maybe they like each comment and reply to a majority of them. Also, keep track of their posting schedule to understand how often and at what times they upload new videos. Another area you may focus on is keyword analysis. If a channel appears at the top of YouTube's search results, chances are their SEO skills are very advanced. Study their approach and try to incorporate the same tactics.

4. Create Valuable Content

How do you use YouTube's algorithm to promote your videos in the congested video pool? Nothing is more important for your YouTube marketing strategy than top-quality content. Based on your competitive analysis, you should curate videos your subscribers watch and engage with. Invest in social listening to identify common pain points your audience encounters and create videos addressing them. Then, create a clear-cut script so you know exactly what you'll talk about. Maintaining a concentrated narrative is crucial in sustaining your viewers' interest. Cut unnecessary parts and keep the narration short without adding too much fluff. You may use storytelling techniques to create intrigue and build climactic narration. Stay consistent with your uploading so potential clients know when they should expect new videos. For webinars and demonars , you can create events that count down the time remaining until showtime.

5. Optimize Your Videos

An SEO marketing strategy means that you incorporate relevant and top keywords and phrases in your video titles and descriptions to help YouTube's search engine locate your videos. However, YouTube isn't exactly like Google. It's not only the keywords used or how popular a video is that counts. YouTube also takes into consideration a user's watch history. So, two people searching for the same term won't get the exact same results. A few top SEO tips to help you optimize your videos and channel performance are to conduct keyword research to understand what most people search for. Additionally, you should add timestamps that break your video into chapters so viewers can skip certain parts and watch what interests them. You must also pay close attention to your thumbnail and video description to make sure they're accurate and detailed.

6. Monitor Your Performance

How can you improve your marketing results and boost your channel's engagement? Monitoring your channel means keeping track of each brand mention, reading positive and negative mentions, identifying trending topics, and understanding your competitors. YouTube analytics help you improve your content and overall YouTube marketing strategy. Maybe you don't promote your business using email marketing like your competition does, and your competitor analysis helps you identify that gap. Also, you can pinpoint the videos that attract many viewers compared to those where potential customers churn quickly so you know which subject works best for you.

7. Experiment With YouTube Shorts

Using YouTube for business allows you to enforce not only long-form videos but also shorts. Their rising popularity is attributed to people's need to consume content quickly. Some of the best agencies offering content marketing services would advise you to start cropping your longer videos into shorts to intrigue viewers and make them watch the full version. As a result, you can reach larger audiences since people watch more shorts. Also, shorts can easily be shared on your other social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Keep in mind that 63% of YouTube watch time comes from mobile phones, where shorts are easier to consume.

8. Engage With Your Audience

Marketing your brand and promoting your channel are continuous strategies that require high engagement levels. A crucial YouTube marketing tip is to engage with your viewers and answer their comments. You can press "Like" on every single comment and reply to those making suggestions. For example, when someone suggests an improvement, you can respond respectfully, showing how much you value their feedback and promising to do better. YouTube marketing isn't only about crafting a decent campaign structure but also about maintaining loyal relationships.

9. Schedule Live Streams

YouTube Lives is the future of digital marketing , as it allows you to pique people's interest and boost engagement. You may periodically arrange Q&As, how-to guides, and demos and use the live comments section to engage with your subscribers. You may also promote your webinars and podcasts and create premiere dates. A great YouTube marketing tip is to arrange your premieres earlier on the platform to offer exclusivity to your followers. Afterward, you may answer top questions from the live comments section and interact with viewers.

10. Collaborate With Influencers

Content marketing experts know how pivotal influencer marketing can prove for established and up-and-coming YouTube channels. Creators with large and loyal audiences can help you increase brand awareness, generate new leads, and increase subscribers. Their authority convinces others that you are a trustworthy brand. It's pretty much like a PPC directory on a trusted website. But how do you utilize YouTube creators? Product placements, sponsored videos, giveaways, and affiliate marketing are all wonderful ideas depending on your needs. For example, you may offer a free subscription as a giveaway or a special discount as part of the affiliate program.

7 Marketing Tips To Attract Viewers And Grow Your Channel

1. paid ads.

Boosting your organic traffic should be a top priority. However, a good marketing tip is to incorporate paid ads into your YouTube B2B marketing strategy . They allow you to reach larger audiences and promote your content effectively. YouTube supports five ad types, including bumper, in-stream, in-feed, masthead, and outstream. Bumper and in-stream ads are two of the most popular, with the former being unskippable and appearing at the beginning of a video, while the latter appears within the video, and you may or may not be able to skip them. Masthead ads appear at the top of your YouTube feed, and outstream ads are strictly for mobile navigation. So, it's obvious why video banner ads are an essential tool in your marketing arsenal.

2. Email Marketing

Many creators have achieved YouTube success thanks to their successful email marketing efforts. We have already mentioned the benefits of email marketing in building your list. Once you have a satisfactory number of signups, you can start segmenting your YouTube target audience based on their interests and demographics. Every time you have a new video coming out, you can send reminder emails to your followers along with engaging and intriguing text, throwing them hints about the content. One of the best email marketing practices is to offer early access to your subscribers. People love exclusivity, and you may attract even more signups to your channel. Ensure your emails look amazing on mobile devices, as most people read their messages on their phones.

3. Social Media Marketing

It's a no-brainer that social media should be an integral part of your YouTube marketing strategy, as promoting your content there boosts engagement and widens your target audience. This symbiotic relationship allows you to publish cropped content that piques people's interest so they watch full-length videos. Additionally, you can engage with your followers and reply to their comments. Make sure to have an SEO strategy set up so your videos are easily discovered. Another benefit of Instagram is that it lets you track video analytics, identify successful and ineffective patterns, and improve your content and promotional campaigns . You should take advantage of user-generated content, too, including thought leader interviews and customer testimonials.

4. Collaborate And Cross-Promote

Collaboration and networking can help you tap into new audiences and expand your viewership. For instance, you can make a list of channels that produce similar content and appeal to the same demographics. You may suggest a partnership where you make appearances on each other's channels or create joint videos. Receiving a shoutout from channels bigger than yours is a wonderful opportunity to generate new leads. As mentioned above, social media directs audiences back to your YouTube channel and lets them discover more interesting content. So, cross-promoting your videos on all your social media platforms is a necessary step for expanding your audience and increasing views.

5. Run Contests

YouTube contests and giveaways aren't as simple as their Instagram counterparts. Don't ask viewers to simply like your video, leave a comment, and subscribe to your channel. Make your competitions a bit more creative by asking your audience members to submit their personal videos expressing their opinions on a topic or why they chose or want to choose your business. Alternatively, you may ask your YouTube followers to share one of your videos on their social media using a specific hashtag. In this instance, your marketing leader should track the chosen hashtag to count participants and measure engagement. You may then choose the winner randomly using a generator.

6. Q&As

You've probably seen your favorite influencers or famous people do Q&A videos on YouTube or Instagram. This is a great YouTube marketing tip for your B2B company to interact with its audience, ask them for their questions, and provide detailed answers. You may ask people to submit their questions in the comments or on an Instagram story. After you compile the most commonly asked and interesting questions, you should create a video. You may conduct it in the form of an interview, where an employee asks and a thought leader answers. Alternatively, you can write the questions on the screen and let your expert answer them. You may do the same on your website and publish the same Q&A content in written form. Take a look at this article to get an idea of what a Q&A article looks like.

7. Evergreen Content

At the epicenter of all YouTube marketing tips lies evergreen content. While you create new videos regularly, your past content should always be relevant and attract viewers even years later. Therefore, your content keeps converting without you having to enforce new lead magnet ideas all the time. Make sure to add key terms in your title and description. Surely, you may need to create videos regarding trending matters. However, try to limit these types of videos and find creative ways to turn them into evergreen discussions. If you're working with influencers, make sure the co-branded content you generate stands strong over the course of time.

5 Types Of Videos You Can Create

1. testimonials and case studies.

Testimonials and case studies can be produced both in written and audiovisual forms and can both get people to buy your product . To create a video testimonial, simply ask your clients for their genuine thoughts. You can invite them into your studio or ask them to film themselves explaining their experiences with your brand. UGC content is typically perceived as more honest. You may intercut with product tutorials and text explanations. Case studies are quite similar. Choose a customer whose story is highly engaging and triumphant and interview them, focusing on the benefits of your product, not its features. Their perception of your brand should be authentically positive.

2. Explainers And Tutorials

YouTube marketing strategies can't miss adding explainers, tutorials, and how-to guides in their strategic marketing plans . If you use YouTube for business, these types of videos help you explain in depth how your product operates and what results clients can expect. Remember that most people search for videos when they want to learn something. Tutorials offer great freedom to viewers who can pause the video and rewatch something they have trouble understanding. They can leave comments with their questions, while the content is accessible to people with visual and hearing impairments. While YouTube offers automated subtitles, you may add video captions for those unable to listen.

3. Product Demonstrations

Tutorials explain to your YouTube target audience how they can use your product. With demos, you show them how your product operates, and it can be done during a live webinar . The only thing you need is a camera or screen-recording software and someone who knows exactly how to operate your product. Adding this video form to your YouTube marketing strategy can increase credibility and trust as clients see for themselves how beneficial your solution is. Focus your YouTube content creation on features and results without sounding too salesy. You may create a premiere for your video and remind audiences to log in 30 minutes before showtime. Turn on the live chat, too, so you can answer questions during the video.

4. Interviews

A YouTube marketing company would tell you that interviews are very popular among audiences, as they build trust. You may invite famous and respected figures in your industry and facilitate interesting and informative conversations. You may not discuss your product and its features, but general burning matters. However, you have the opportunity to express your thoughts and establish thought leadership. To get more customers , your interviews should be personal, genuine, and not overly promotional. You may crop them into smaller videos and repurpose them on various social media platforms to build intrigue. Podcasts and videocasts are one way of conducting interviews when in-person meetings are not possible. Additionally, you can interview your own experts who are well-known in the industry.

5. Video Blogs

You may also add vlogs to your YouTube content strategy, as they are more personal and friendly than other video forms. Let us share a few YouTube marketing tips with you. For starters, you need to pick a team member who knows your business's ins and outs. Decide the topic of each vlog and use simple language. Effective vlogs typically last more than ten minutes, so you may publish them once a week or twice a month and focus on quality. Since YouTube is a search engine, share each vlog's link with your social media followers and encourage them to share the video. As it becomes more popular, the algorithm will promote it, and it will start appearing on people's front pages depending on the keywords you add.

Key Takeaway

YouTube marketing is a top way to promote your valuable content and grow your channel. It allows you to increase brand awareness, boost traffic and conversions, and improve search results. Building an effective channel that represents your values and is consistent with your brand image is pivotal. But you must conduct competitive analysis and iterative testing to understand which content types are popular among your target audience. Improving your SEO, publishing shorts and lives, and collaborating with established and trusted figures are some of the most valuable YouTube marketing tips.

You may start creating testimonials, case studies, Q&As, interviews, tutorials, and vlogs to appeal to viewers. In your descriptions, you should add links leading to gated content , such as informational eBooks, webinars, and consultation offers, helping you build your email list. But how do you even make your channel visible? Paid ads, email marketing, content marketing, contests, and cross-promotion are all effective ways of building your demand generation campaigns . However, you shouldn't be business formal all the time. Create a few business casual videos that focus on your company behind the scenes and give people a glimpse of what your employees look like.

Download our Media Kit for free and check out how eLearning Industry can help your business grow.

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Business | Working Strategies: 9 Tips for a Tight(ening)…

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Business | Working Strategies: 9 Tips for a Tight(ening) Job Market

Are we headed for a tight job market? Are we in one now?

Although we’ll need the magic of hindsight to find out, we do have data to help direct us in the meantime.

For example, as a nation we’re holding steady with the unemployment rate, which is low (4.3%). We’re also continuing to add jobs (89,000 in July and 142,000 in August), and employers are generally stating they are not planning any major layoffs.

Those are good indicators of a healthy job market. But there’s always another side to the coin. In this case, it relates to employer hesitation in adding workers.

For example, although we’re gaining jobs, the pace of that growth has slowed. Likewise, the number of postings has declined and the length of time between interviews and offers seems to be inching up again.

Reasons for slowing down would naturally vary from employer to employer but there are shared concerns around common issues. Inflation, the likely (but uncertain) interest rate cuts anticipated for the coming year, and the presidential election could all contribute to slowing or even stopping the hiring process for employers.

These are normal responses to uncertainty and not necessarily concerning. But if you’re a job seeker who still thinks it’s a hot market for workers, you’ll want to adjust your thinking.

The following tips will provide a throw-back reminder of what to do when the job market is less accommodating than it has been in the recent past.

If you’re working now

1. Delay a job change. Unless your position is miserable or on the verge of collapse, give yourself a few months or at least until after the election before making any moves.

2. Consider cross-training. You won’t become invaluable or impervious to layoff, but being able to switch departments could buffer you if your employer hits a rough patch.

3. Find an internal mentor. Having another perspective can be invaluable in any circumstance, but especially so if your workplace starts to wobble.

If you’re job seeking now

4. Review your job goal. Have you been shooting for something a couple of levels higher than your past position? Remember that employers might be more risk-averse, wanting certainty that someone can handle the job without much of an on-ramp.

5. Freshen your dates. Being unemployed for months or even years isn’t necessarily a problem, but showing nothing to indicate added value since your last job could be. Internships, certifications, part-time jobs and side hustles in the field would be the gold standard, but even an online class can demonstrate refreshed skills and commitment to the related work.

6. Don’t over-rely on postings. The tighter the job market, the less likely an employer will broadly advertise an opening — or advertise at all. It’s a matter of not wanting to be inundated with responses, and perhaps of not needing to market when candidates might already be knocking on the door. Not seeing a posting doesn’t mean there’s not an opening. To reverse the process, create a list of places you’d like to work, then reach out to department managers or current employees to ask about future hiring plans.

Whether or not you’re working or job seeking now

7. Increase your savings. This is obviously easier for someone with a paycheck, so the application of this step will be varied. But any steps you can take to set aside money or reduce expenses will help if the job market does contract.

8. Increase your networking. Regardless of what’s happening in the broader economy, the fastest and most certain way into a job has always been through contacts and friends. To increase your networking, you might actively connect with new people or simply re-connect with those you already know. Then, if something does happen, everyone in that circle of connections will have better options for recovering, including you.

9. Get involved in something. If you’re on a job-family-sleep-job schedule, it might seem difficult to wedge something else in. Even so, having a class or volunteer role or even a hobby such as a biking club can provide the “extra” employers like to see in their candidates; it can also provide another pool of networking relationships. These benefits are even more true for job seekers who are currently unemployed.

Amy Lindgren owns a career consulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at [email protected] .

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